Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 342--``The Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2023.''

H.R. 342 requires the Department of Energy to report quarterly to Congress on the use of the department's authority to reduce or eliminate cost-sharing requirements for various research, development, and demonstration projects.

Specifically, this bill aims to establish the necessary requirements to effectively set the standards for quarterly reporting to Congress in order to ensure proper management of capital allotment between energy departments.

Mr. Speaker, The Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005 (Public Law 109- 58), the underlying statute of H.R. 342 which provides the background history for H.R. 342, calls for the development of grant programs, demonstration and testing initiatives, and tax incentives that promote alternative fuels and advanced vehicles production and use.

H.R. 342--``The Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2023'' will provide advancements towards energy innovations that will benefit both the state of energy independence of the United States as well as critical energy advancements for the future.

The Secretary of Energy has the authority to reduce or eliminate cost sharing requirements for applied research and development as necessary and appropriate.

Moreover, the Secretary may reduce cost sharing requirements for demonstration and commercial application activities as necessary and appropriate, taking into consideration any technological risk relating to the activity.

Mr. Speaker, based on the S&P Global macroeconomic model completed on January 5th, it is expected that the U.S. real GDP will grow by 0.5 percent in 2023, with economic growth returning after contraction in the first quarter of 2023.

In 2024, the estimated real GDP will grow by 1.9 percent, driven primarily by an increase in household consumption. This means that there will be relatively flat economic growth in 2023 resulting in total U.S. energy consumption falling by 0.9 percent in the forecast. However, total energy consumption then rises by 1.0 percent in 2024.

This evidence provides us a basis for making sure we have the proper standards in place for effective accounting for key departments performing various research, development, and demonstration projects.

As a senior Member of the Budget Committee, I understand the importance of providing clarity and transparency to the American people on the allocation of funds.

I urge all my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of H.R. 342, ``The Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2023'' so we can provide transparency to the American people while addressing the proper implementations towards efficient allotment of cost-sharing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bill, H.R. 342, the Cost- Sharing Accountability Act.

Mr. Speaker, research and development grants in the field of energy administered by the Department of Energy play a critical role in innovation and energy research in the United States. The administration and awarding of those grants is governed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Among other things, that act requires the DOE to impose a cost share on the recipients of those grants. That cost share can be as low as 20 percent in the case of research and development grants, or as high as 50 percent in the case of commercialization and demonstration grants.

The purpose of this cost share is simple. It is to ensure that the grant recipients also have some skin in the game when it comes to ensuring the success of the grants and the projects that they are bidding on and demonstrating.

Several months ago, the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held an oversight hearing in which we investigated the occasions on which the Department of Energy had waived those cost-sharing requirements on grants that it had awarded.

The DOE has the statutory ability to waive those cost shares under the appropriate circumstances. We wanted to make sure that that authority was being exercised judiciously.

Although we found that the DOE was appropriately waiving those cost shares under those circumstances, we were very surprised by the lack of transparency in that process and equally surprised by the difficulty with which the subcommittee had in acquiring the information about how often the DOE was waiving those cost shares.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, H.R. 342, is a very simple solution to that problem. It will require the DOE to make quarterly reports to the committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the Senate on the occasions and the circumstances under which it waives cost-share requirements for the grants that it awards.

This will enhance Congress' ability to exercise oversight over the DOE. Equally importantly, it will impose greater transparency into this process for the parties that apply for these grants, and it will demonstrate the circumstances under which the DOE would consider waiving those cost-share requirements.

Mr. Speaker, this is basic good governance. It is an oversight bill. I hope it is something that we all on both sides of the aisle can support.

I thank my cosponsor, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of H.R. 342.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 342) to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require reporting relating to certain cost-share requirements, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 342, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 342, the Cost-Share Accountability Act

of 2023 introduced by my friend, Representative Obernolte.

H.R. 342 is a good-government bill that does exactly what it says it will: it improves accountability.

When making awards, the Department of Energy is subject to cost-share requirements for most research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities.

DOE can modify or eliminate those requirements when necessary, an authority which has been critical to supporting and developing new technologies.

This bill is very simple. It requires DOE to submit a quarterly report to Congress describing the instances where they have modified or waived those cost-share requirements. The bill also makes those reports publicly available.

H.R. 342 doesn't prevent DOE from waiving cost-share requirements. It just ensures that those decisions are made public. This transparency and accountability is important because it allows us to ensure we are making the best possible use of taxpayer resources. It is a smart, bipartisan policy.

I thank Representative Obernolte and Representative Foster for working on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte).

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 342 will create more transparency around the DOE awards and help us better oversee our investments in cutting- edge energy technologies. It is bipartisan, commonsense legislation, which is why it passed the House on suspension last year.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill once again, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I join the chairman today in supporting H.R. 342, the Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2023. I am pleased that today we are considering this bill.

Many of the clean energy technologies deployed throughout the Nation today have benefited from financial support from the Department of Energy.

The bipartisan Cost-Sharing Accountability Act of 2023 would strengthen the reporting requirements related to certain cost-sharing requirements at DOE.

Specifically, the bill would require the Secretary of Energy to report on the use of the statutory authority to reduce or eliminate cost-sharing requirements for research, for development, for demonstration, as well as commercial application activities.

As the chairman has noted, better reporting on financial assistance will help us to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. As mentioned, we passed a matching version of this bill under a suspension of the rules in the last Congress. It is time, we hope, for the Senate to take this bill up and pass it this year after the House passes this again.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California (Mr. Obernolte) for introducing this bill.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), the cosponsor of this bill and last year's chair of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, let me close by urging everyone to support this good bill, and let's celebrate carrying on the fine tradition of bipartisan legislative action in the Science Committee. I look forward to the rest of this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 342, the Cost- Share Accountability Act.

This bill, which I co-led with its sponsor, Congressman Obernolte, was born out of a joint hearing that we held last Congress, which discussed best practices for financial assistance agreements within the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy.

This bill mandates reports on the Department's use of cost-sharing practices, which require organizations receiving grants from the Department of Energy to fund a portion of the project's costs.

I am a big fan of cost-sharing agreements as a mechanism to make sure that taxpayer dollars are well spent. There are circumstances under which they may appropriately be waived, but in order for Congress to fulfill our oversight responsibilities, we must be able to access information on how those requirements are being implemented and when they are being waived.

This legislation is fundamental good governance, an important step to increase the transparency of the Department of Energy's funding practices, and I look forward to working with the Department of Energy to ensure that cost-sharing is implemented fairly and effectively and that it is supporting the Department's and Congress' priorities.

I thank Representative Obernolte for his leadership on this legislation, which passed the House in a strong bipartisan vote last Congress, and also for his service as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight that I chaired last Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.