Brian Babin

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 283, the Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act, as amended.

This bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a standard methodology using chemical analysis to identify the country of origin of seafood.

Both commercial and recreational fishing contribute significantly to the Texas economy. Red snapper, in particular, is highly sought after by the recreational fishing sector. This effort is especially important in the Gulf of America, where red snapper is a valuable resource for American fishermen and coastal communities.

Illegally harvested seafood can make its way into U.S. markets, undercutting the fishermen and seafood producers who play by the rules.

NIST scientists have developed chemical methods to identify the geographic origin of foods like beef, honey, fruits, and rice. This bill would build on that expertise to give law enforcement another tool to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud.

Today's bill also incorporates edits made by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee during our bipartisan markup earlier this year as part of H.R. 3706, the Standards for Understanding Source and Habitat Identification Act, also known as the SUSHI Act, which I sponsored.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3029) to amend the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to support nucleic acid screening, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3029, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3029, the Nucleic Acid Standards for Biosecurity Act, introduced by Representative Salinas of Oregon, along with Representative McCormick of Georgia.

This bill is about protecting two things we all care about: American leadership in the life sciences and the security of the American people.

Today, an American company or university laboratory can legally order made-to-order DNA, the basic building blocks of biology, and have it delivered in a matter of days. This technology powers new medicines and vaccines, stronger crops, and advanced manufacturing. It is a real source of American strength.

However, the same technology that lets us build the biology of the future could, in the wrong hands, potentially be used to assemble the genetic material of a dangerous pathogen.

Responsible providers already guard against this. They screen incoming orders against sequences of concern and verify the identities of their customers. However, as this field continues to advance rapidly, the lack of common technical standards and best practices for screening presents an emerging biosecurity risk.

That is exactly the kind of work the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, was built to do. NIST is our Nation's measurement and standards laboratory. It does not regulate industry. It provides industry with the tools and benchmarks and the best practices needed to get this right.

H.R. 3029 directs NIST to carry out the measurement research needed to make this screening more accurate and reliable by improving screening tools, securing databases of concerning sequences, and developing ways for providers to demonstrate that their screening systems work as intended.

It also directs NIST to convene a consortium of the people who actually do this work, including industry, universities, and nonprofit organizations, to develop consensus best practices and a roadmap for the future.

This legislation does not create a new regulatory regime for American biotechnology. It strengthens our biosecurity while safeguarding the innovation that keeps us ahead of our competitors, and it passed the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on a bipartisan basis.

I thank Representatives Salinas and McCormick for their work on this bill, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 3029 is a practical, targeted bill. It directs NIST to develop the science-based standards and best practices needed to make the screening of synthetic DNA much more reliable, helping to ensure that the very technology driving American biotechnology cannot be turned against us.

That is why this bill earned bipartisan support in the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and why it deserves the support of the full House today.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3029, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8790) to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to direct research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities in support of next-generation geothermal and closed-loop geothermal systems in various conditions, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise

and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 8790, the bill that is now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8790, the Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act, sponsored by my colleagues, Representatives Harrigan and Salinas.

This bill amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to include novel geothermal approaches and directs the Department of Energy to support these baseload energy-producing technologies.

Thanks to breakthroughs in drilling methods pioneered by the oil-and- gas sector, we can now drill deeper and increase rock permeability.

As a result, regions of the United States that were once unable to support baseload geothermal electricity generation are now viable for power production.

This comes at an important time as we race to connect baseload energy to the grid to ensure that we have both reliable power and the grid stability needed to support continued economic growth and technological advancement.

The bill directs the Department of Energy to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of the Interior to facilitate the sharing of geothermal data and to improve understanding of the subsurface.

This legislation also provides a critical update to the Department of the Interior's drilling data repository by including additional data sources, periodic updates, and standardized data to enhance its overall functionality and usability.

Curating data from public lands gives the government, academia, and industry a better understanding of the subsurface and the resources beneath our feet.

This bill also builds upon the success of the Department of Energy's Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, or FORGE, by requiring next-generation geothermal testing at one or more additional FORGE sites, if deemed necessary by the Department of Energy.

Research conducted at FORGE has provided clear evidence that, through innovative drilling, next-generation geothermal systems can be used to generate power.

The Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act authorizes the Department of Energy to foster this emerging industry by awarding grants to accelerate the development, testing, and implementation of innovative technologies that improve the performance of next-generation geothermal energy projects.

Madam Speaker, I will express my appreciation for the work of Representatives Harrigan and Salinas on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives

Committee on Natural Resources,

Washington, DC, July 13, 2026.

Hon. Brian Babin,

Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Babin: I write concerning H.R. 8790, the

``Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act'',

which the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ordered

reported on May 20, 2026.

There are certain provisions of H.R. 8790 that fall within

the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Natural

Resources. I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring

this legislation before the House of Representatives in an

expeditious manner, and accordingly agree that the Committee

on Natural Resources shall be discharged from further

consideration of the bill. However, this is conditional on

our mutual understanding that by the forgoing consideration

of H.R. 8790 at this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction

over the subject matter contained in this or similar

legislation that falls within the Committee on Natural

Resources' Rule X jurisdiction. We also request that the

Committee on Natural Resources' Rule X jurisdiction. We also

request that the Committee on Natural Resources be

appropriately consulted and involved on this or similar

legislation as it moves forward. Further, this does not

prejudice the Committee on Natural Resources with respect to

the appointment of conferees, and should a conference on the

bill be necessary, I appreciate your agreement to support my

request to have the Committee represented on the conference

committee.

Finally, I would ask that a copy of this letter and your

response acknowledging the jurisdictional interest of the

Committee on Natural Resources in the bill be included in the

Committee Report and Congressional Record during

consideration of H.R. 8790 on the House floor.

Sincerely,

Bruce Westerman,

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Harrigan).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Madam Speaker, the need for the United States to increase reliable baseload energy is very clear.

To help meet this demand, the House has recently passed multiple bills to accelerate the development of geothermal energy. This legislation builds on those efforts and will help geothermal play an even greater role in meeting our Nation's energy needs.

H.R. 8790 authorizes and directs the Department of Energy to support the research and development of next-generation geothermal technologies, helping ensure that American leadership in this emerging industry remains number one.

Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Harrigan for his leadership on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support this simple bipartisan measure.

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