II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4286 

To authorize appropriations for offsetting the costs related to reductions 

in research productivity resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2020 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. GARDNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriations for offsetting the costs related 

to reductions in research productivity resulting from the 

coronavirus pandemic. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Research Investment 

5 to Spark the Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘RISE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Agencies provided Federal research grantees 

9 flexibility during the pandemic to support graduate 


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1 students, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech2 nical support staff. 

3 (2) Agencies will need to provide current Fed4 eral research grants extensions to cover time lost in 

5 research labs and in the field that will impact the 

6 completion of that agency’s research missions and 

7 priorities. Additionally, agencies allowed federally 

8 funded labs to donate necessary equipment, like per9 sonal protective equipment among others, to support 

10 hospitals and first responders, which will need to be 

11 re-purchased and will create additional expenses to 

12 Federal contracts. 

13 (3) The need to ensure the United States sus14 tains the critical human infrastructure that under15 girds the United States research enterprise, which 

16 has created a longstanding government-university 

17 partnership which has made America the global 

18 leader in innovation, strengthening the health of our 

19 Nation’s citizens, economy, and national security. 

20 (4) While the Federal Government has made 

21 significant investments in new research to address 

22 COVID–19, existing research has been slowed down 

23 or stopped due to COVID–19 modified operations of 

24 campuses and laboratories. 


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1 (5) Given the modified operations of many uni2 versity-based and national laboratories due to the 

3 pandemic, Congress is concerned that the people 

4 who comprise the research workforce—graduate stu5 dents, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech6 nical support staff—and the future health and 

7 strength of the United States research enterprise 

8 and manufacturing and technology economies, 

9 among others, are at risk. 

10 (6) While our Nation’s research capacity has 

11 demonstrated it can absorb shocks and pivot to ad12 dress immediate national threats, the scale of this 

13 pandemic is still growing and unprecedented in du14 ration and impact. 

15 (7) Without funding, future innovations in 

16 areas such as quantum, artificial intelligence, robot17 ics, computing, 5G, space exploration, digital agri18 culture, cancer, and aging will be forestalled while 

19 the agencies are forced to use future appropriations 

20 for new research, meant to create new knowledge 

21 leading to the next generation of discoveries, to 

22 cover existing grants. The Nation must innovate to 

23 launch the next 50 years of unparalleled economic 

24 leadership and be prepared for any future 

25 pandemics. 


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1 (8) Therefore, Congress believes it is vital that 

2 the Federal Government take measures to help re3 lieve the strain agencies will be forced to face and 

4 sustain the strength of our Nation’s ability to re5 main a global leader in an increasingly competitive 

6 global research environment, as other countries con7 tinue to make disproportionately large investments 

8 in key research areas. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 

12 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any agency (as de13 fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code) 

14 with at least $50,000,000 in basic and applied re15 search obligations in fiscal year 2020. 

16 (2) RESEARCH INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘re17 search institution’’ means an institution of higher 

18 education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High19 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or 

20 a nonprofit entity that conducts federally funded re21 search. 

22 (3) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na23 tional laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term in 

24 section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

25 U.S.C. 15801). 


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1 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

2 (a) ALLOWABLE USES.—A Federal science agency 

3 may use funds authorized under this Act to— 

4 (1) provide supplemental funding to extend the 

5 duration of a grant to a research institution or Na6 tional laboratory that was awarded prior to the date 

7 of enactment of this Act, or to expand the purposes 

8 of such a grant in order to— 

9 (A) enable a graduate student or post-doc10 toral researcher to complete work that was dis11 rupted by COVID–19; 

12 (B) enable a principal investigator to com13 plete work that was disrupted by COVID–19; 

14 (C) extend the training of a graduate stu15 dent or the employment of a post-doctoral re16 searcher on an ongoing research project for up 

17 to 2 years because of the disruption of the job 

18 market due to COVID–19; 

19 (D) allow for the use of laboratory ani20 mals, reagents, equipment, or other items re21 quired for research funded by a grant that was 

22 awarded prior to the date of enactment of this 

23 Act, but need to be replaced, refurbished, or 

24 otherwise made usable after disruption because 

25 of COVID–19; 


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1 (E) reconfigure laboratories, restart equip2 ment and disrupted research, and other activi3 ties necessary to safely resume on-site research 

4 activities in laboratories that were temporarily 

5 closed or redirected to COVID–19 response; 

6 and 

7 (F) facilitate other competitively awarded 

8 research and training activities that have been 

9 disrupted by COVID–19; 

10 (2) provide supplemental funding through exist11 ing competitively awarded cooperative agreements 

12 and contracts to cover the increased costs of con13 struction of scientific facilities and equipment that 

14 have been delayed because of COVID–19; and 

15 (3) award grants and cooperative agreements to 

16 institutions of higher education to conduct research 

17 on the behavioral, social, or economic effects of 

18 COVID–19 and the responses to the disease, or on 

19 the effectiveness of such responses. 

20 (b) AWARDS.—Each Federal science agency author21 ized to receive funds under this Act shall develop proce22 dures to award such funds and shall award such funds 

23 as rapidly as possible. 

24 (c) TIMING.—Funds authorized under this Act shall 

25 be awarded during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 and funds 


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1 so awarded shall remain available for expenditure for up 

2 to 2 years. 

3 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 

4 Until such time as a research institution has deter5 mined it can safely reopen a research laboratory funded 

6 by a Federal science agency, such agency shall continue 

7 to interpret regulations in a manner consistent with— 

8 (1) the memorandum issued by the Office of 

9 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti10 tled ‘‘Administrative Relief for Recipients and Appli11 cants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Im12 pacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID–19) due 

13 to Loss of Operations’’; and 

14 (2) the memorandum issued by the Office of 

15 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti16 tled ‘‘Managing Federal Contract Performance 

17 Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus 

18 (COVID–19)’’. 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—There is au21 thorized to be appropriated to the Department of Agri22 culture for fiscal year 2020— 

23 (1) $300,000,000 to fund activities under sec24 tion 4; and 


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1 (2) $80,000,000 to carry out cooperative exten2 sion and education programs in response to exigent 

3 circumstances created by the COVID–19 pandemic. 

4 (b) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—There is author5 ized to be appropriated $650,000,000 to the Department 

6 of Commerce for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 

7 section 4 of this Act, of which at least $350,000,000 shall 

8 be for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad9 ministration and at least $300,000,000 shall be for the 

10 National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

11 (c) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—There is author12 ized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Depart13 ment of Defense for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

14 under section 4. 

15 (d) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.—There is author16 ized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the Department 

17 of Education for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 

18 section 4 for the Institute for Education Sciences. 

19 (e) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—There is authorized 

20 to be appropriated $5,000,000,000 to the Department of 

21 Energy for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under sec22 tion 4, of which at least $3,000,000,000 shall be for use 

23 by the Office of Science, at least $900,000,000 shall be 

24 for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, at least 

25 $450,000,000 shall be for Nuclear Energy, at least 


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1 $300,000,000 shall be for Fossil Research and Develop2 ment, at least $150,000,000 shall be for ARPA–E, and 

3 at least $100,000,000 shall be for the Office of Electricity. 

4 (f) DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR.—There is authorized 

5 to be appropriated $300,000,000 to the Department of In6 terior for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 

7 4 for the United States Geological Survey. 

8 (g) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV9 ICES.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

10 $10,000,000,000 to the Department of Health and 

11 Human Services for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

12 under section 4 for the National Institutes of Health. 

13 (h) NASA.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

14 $2,000,000,000 to the National Aeronautics and Space 

15 Administration for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

16 under section 4. 

17 (i) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.—There is au18 thorized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Na19 tional Science Foundation for fiscal year 2020 to fund ac20 tivities under section 4. 

21 (j) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.—There 

22 is authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the En23 vironmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2020 to 

24 fund activities under section 4. 

Æ 


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