RISE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7308 To authorize appropriations for offsetting the costs related to reductions in research productivity resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 24, 2020 Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Mr. UPTON, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. LUCAS, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Armed Services, Edu- cation and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To authorize appropriations for offsetting the costs related to reductions in research productivity resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Research Investment 4 to Spark the Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘RISE Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7308 IH (1) Agencies provided Federal research grantees 1 flexibility during the pandemic to support graduate 2 students, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech- 3 nical support staff. 4 (2) Agencies will need to provide current Fed- 5 eral research grants extensions to cover time lost in 6 research labs and in the field that will impact the 7 completion of that agency’s research missions and 8 priorities. Additionally, agencies allowed federally 9 funded labs to donate necessary equipment, like per- 10 sonal protective equipment among others, to support 11 hospitals and first responders, which will need to be 12 re-purchased and will create additional expenses to 13 Federal contracts. 14 (3) The need to ensure the United States sus- 15 tains the critical human infrastructure that under- 16 girds the United States research enterprise, which 17 has created a longstanding government-university 18 partnership which has made America the global 19 leader in innovation, strengthening the health of our 20 Nation’s citizens, economy, and national security. 21 (4) While the Federal Government has made 22 significant investments in new research to address 23 COVID–19, existing research has been slowed down 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7308 IH or stopped due to COVID–19 modified operations of 1 campuses and laboratories. 2 (5) Given the modified operations of many uni- 3 versity-based and national laboratories due to the 4 pandemic, Congress is concerned that the people 5 who comprise the research workforce—graduate stu- 6 dents, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech- 7 nical support staff—and the future health and 8 strength of the United States research enterprise 9 and manufacturing and technology economies, 10 among others, are at risk. 11 (6) While our Nation’s research capacity has 12 demonstrated it can absorb shocks and pivot to ad- 13 dress immediate national threats, the scale of this 14 pandemic is still growing and unprecedented in du- 15 ration and impact. 16 (7) Without funding, future innovations in 17 areas such as quantum, artificial intelligence, robot- 18 ics, computing, 5G, space exploration, digital agri- 19 culture, cancer, and aging will be forestalled while 20 the agencies are forced to use future appropriations 21 for new research, meant to create new knowledge 22 leading to the next generation of discoveries, to 23 cover existing grants. The Nation must innovate to 24 launch the next 50 years of unparalleled economic 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7308 IH leadership and be prepared for any future pandem- 1 ics. 2 (8) Therefore, Congress believes it is vital that 3 the Federal Government take measures to help re- 4 lieve the strain agencies will be forced to face and 5 sustain the strength of our Nation’s ability to re- 6 main a global leader in an increasingly competitive 7 global research environment, as other countries con- 8 tinue to make disproportionately large investments 9 in key research areas. 10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this Act: 12 (1) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 13 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any agency (as de- 14 fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code) 15 with at least $50,000,000 in basic and applied re- 16 search obligations in fiscal year 2020. 17 (2) RESEARCH INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘re- 18 search institution’’ means an institution of higher 19 education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High- 20 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or 21 a nonprofit entity that conducts federally funded re- 22 search. 23 (3) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 24 tional laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7308 IH section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 1 U.S.C. 15801). 2 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 3 (a) ALLOWABLE USES.—A Federal science agency 4 may use funds authorized under this Act to— 5 (1) provide supplemental funding to extend the 6 duration of a grant to a research institution or Na- 7 tional laboratory that was awarded prior to the date 8 of enactment of this Act, or to expand the purposes 9 of such a grant in order to— 10 (A) enable a graduate student or post-doc- 11 toral researcher to complete work that was dis- 12 rupted by COVID–19; 13 (B) enable a principal investigator to com- 14 plete work that was disrupted by COVID–19; 15 (C) extend the training of a graduate stu- 16 dent or the employment of a post-doctoral re- 17 searcher on an ongoing research project for up 18 to two years because of the disruption of the 19 job market due to COVID–19; 20 (D) allow for the use of laboratory ani- 21 mals, reagents, equipment, or other items re- 22 quired for research funded by a grant that was 23 awarded prior to the date of enactment of this 24 Act, but need to be replaced, refurbished, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7308 IH otherwise made usable after disruption because 1 of COVID–19; 2 (E) reconfigure laboratories, restart equip- 3 ment and disrupted research, and other activi- 4 ties necessary to safely resume on-site research 5 activities in laboratories that were temporarily 6 closed or redirected to COVID–19 response; 7 and 8 (F) facilitate other competitively awarded 9 research and training activities that have been 10 disrupted by COVID–19; 11 (2) provide supplemental funding through exist- 12 ing competitively awarded cooperative agreements 13 and contracts to cover the increased costs of con- 14 struction of scientific facilities and equipment that 15 have been delayed because of COVID–19; and 16 (3) award grants and cooperative agreements to 17 institutions of higher education to conduct research 18 on the behavioral, social, or economic effects of 19 COVID–19 and the responses to the disease, or on 20 the effectiveness of such responses. 21 (b) AWARDS.—Each Federal science agency author- 22 ized to receive funds under this Act shall develop proce- 23 dures to award such funds and shall award such funds 24 as rapidly as possible. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7308 IH (c) TIMING.—Funds authorized under this Act shall 1 be awarded during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 and funds 2 so awarded shall remain available for expenditure for up 3 to two years. 4 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 5 Until such time as a research institution has deter- 6 mined it can safely reopen a research laboratory funded 7 by a Federal science agency, such agency shall continue 8 to interpret regulations in a manner consistent with— 9 (1) the memorandum issued by the Office of 10 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti- 11 tled ‘‘Administrative Relief for Recipients and Appli- 12 cants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Im- 13 pacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID–19) due 14 to Loss of Operations’’; and 15 (2) the memorandum issued by the Office of 16 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti- 17 tled ‘‘Managing Federal Contract Performance 18 Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus 19 (COVID–19)’’. 20 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS. 21 (a) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—There is au- 22 thorized to be appropriated to the Department of Agri- 23 culture for fiscal year 2020— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7308 IH (1) $300,000,000 to fund activities under sec- 1 tion 4; and 2 (2) $80,000,000 to carry out cooperative exten- 3 sion and education programs in response to exigent 4 circumstances created by the COVID–19 pandemic. 5 (b) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—There is author- 6 ized to be appropriated $650,000,000 to the Department 7 of Commerce for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 8 section 4 of this Act, of which at least $350,000,000 shall 9 be for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 10 ministration and at least $300,000,000 shall be for the 11 National Institute of Standards and Technology. 12 (c) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—There is author- 13 ized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Depart- 14 ment of Defense for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 15 under section 4. 16 (d) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.—There is author- 17 ized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the Department 18 of Education for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 19 section 4 for the Institute for Education Sciences. 20 (e) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—There is authorized 21 to be appropriated $5,000,000,000 to the Department of 22 Energy for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under sec- 23 tion 4, of which at least $3,000,000,000 shall be for use 24 by the Office of Science, at least $900,000,000 shall be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7308 IH for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, at least 1 $450,000,000 shall be for Nuclear Energy, at least 2 $300,000,000 shall be for Fossil Research and Develop- 3 ment, at least $150,000,000 shall be for ARPA–E, and 4 at least $100,000,000 shall be for the Office of Electricity. 5 (f) DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR.—There is authorized 6 to be appropriated $300,000,000 to the Department of In- 7 terior for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 8 4 for the United States Geological Survey. 9 (g) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV- 10 ICES.—There is authorized to be appropriated 11 $10,000,000,000 to the Department of Health and 12 Human Services for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 13 under section 4 for the National Institutes of Health. 14 (h) NASA.—There is authorized to be appropriated 15 $2,000,000,000 to the National Aeronautics and Space 16 Administration for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 17 under section 4. 18 (i) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.—There is au- 19 thorized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Na- 20 tional Science Foundation for fiscal year 2020 to fund ac- 21 tivities under section 4. 22 (j) ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.—There is 23 authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the Envi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7308 IH ronmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2020 to fund 1 activities under section 4. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS