Competitiveness legislation clears Senate committee

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee approved legislation last week to establish a new research division within the Department of Energy, double basic research funding for the physical sciences at DOE's Office of Science, and expand training programs for math and science teachers at the national laboratories. The measure is part of a three-bill package authored by Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) that would implement a series of recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences to ensure that the U.S. remains economically competitive in the face of increasing globalization. The bill calls for the creation of a new office at DOE called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The agency would be authorized to issue through fiscal 2011 a total of $3.4 billion in grants to scientists in the private sector and academia to conduct "high-risk but potentially high-payoff research" in energy technologies. At a Feb. 15 hearing, DOE Office of Science Director Raymond L. Orbach told the committee that the Administration is concerned about the resources that would be required to fund ARPA-E, but added that his department is open to discussing the idea.