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, Education 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 committee concerned 

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: 


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1 (1) Agencies provided Federal research grantees 

2 flexibility during the pandemic to support graduate 

3 students, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech4 nical support staff. 

5 (2) Agencies will need to provide current Fed6 eral research grants extensions to cover time lost in 

7 research labs and in the field that will impact the 

8 completion of that agency’s research missions and 

9 priorities. Additionally, agencies allowed federally 

10 funded labs to donate necessary equipment, like per11 sonal protective equipment among others, to support 

12 hospitals and first responders, which will need to be 

13 re-purchased and will create additional expenses to 

14 Federal contracts. 

15 (3) The need to ensure the United States sus16 tains the critical human infrastructure that under17 girds the United States research enterprise, which 

18 has created a longstanding government-university 

19 partnership which has made America the global 

20 leader in innovation, strengthening the health of our 

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

22 (4) While the Federal Government has made 

23 significant investments in new research to address 

24 COVID–19, existing research has been slowed down 


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1 or stopped due to COVID–19 modified operations of 

2 campuses and laboratories. 

3 (5) Given the modified operations of many uni4 versity-based and national laboratories due to the 

5 pandemic, Congress is concerned that the people 

6 who comprise the research workforce—graduate stu7 dents, postdocs, principal investigators, and tech8 nical support staff—and the future health and 

9 strength of the United States research enterprise 

10 and manufacturing and technology economies, 

11 among others, are at risk. 

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

13 demonstrated it can absorb shocks and pivot to ad14 dress immediate national threats, the scale of this 

15 pandemic is still growing and unprecedented in du16 ration and impact. 

17 (7) Without funding, future innovations in 

18 areas such as quantum, artificial intelligence, robot19 ics, computing, 5G, space exploration, digital agri20 culture, cancer, and aging will be forestalled while 

21 the agencies are forced to use future appropriations 

22 for new research, meant to create new knowledge 

23 leading to the next generation of discoveries, to 

24 cover existing grants. The Nation must innovate to 

25 launch the next 50 years of unparalleled economic 


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1 leadership and be prepared for any future pandem2 ics. 

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

4 the Federal Government take measures to help re5 lieve the strain agencies will be forced to face and 

6 sustain the strength of our Nation’s ability to re7 main a global leader in an increasingly competitive 

8 global research environment, as other countries con9 tinue to make disproportionately large investments 

10 in key research areas. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 

14 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any agency (as de15 fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code) 

16 with at least $50,000,000 in basic and applied re17 search obligations in fiscal year 2020. 

18 (2) RESEARCH INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘re19 search institution’’ means an institution of higher 

20 education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High21 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or 

22 a nonprofit entity that conducts federally funded re23 search. 

24 (3) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na25 tional laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term in 


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

2 U.S.C. 15801). 

3 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

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

5 may use funds authorized under this Act to— 

6 (1) provide supplemental funding to extend the 

7 duration of a grant to a research institution or Na8 tional laboratory that was awarded prior to the date 

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

10 of such a grant in order to— 

11 (A) enable a graduate student or post-doc12 toral researcher to complete work that was dis13 rupted by COVID–19; 

14 (B) enable a principal investigator to com15 plete work that was disrupted by COVID–19; 

16 (C) extend the training of a graduate stu17 dent or the employment of a post-doctoral re18 searcher on an ongoing research project for up 

19 to two years because of the disruption of the 

20 job market due to COVID–19; 

21 (D) allow for the use of laboratory ani22 mals, reagents, equipment, or other items re23 quired for research funded by a grant that was 

24 awarded prior to the date of enactment of this 

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


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1 otherwise made usable after disruption because 

2 of COVID–19; 

3 (E) reconfigure laboratories, restart equip4 ment and disrupted research, and other activi5 ties necessary to safely resume on-site research 

6 activities in laboratories that were temporarily 

7 closed or redirected to COVID–19 response; 

8 and 

9 (F) facilitate other competitively awarded 

10 research and training activities that have been 

11 disrupted by COVID–19; 

12 (2) provide supplemental funding through exist13 ing competitively awarded cooperative agreements 

14 and contracts to cover the increased costs of con15 struction of scientific facilities and equipment that 

16 have been delayed because of COVID–19; and 

17 (3) award grants and cooperative agreements to 

18 institutions of higher education to conduct research 

19 on the behavioral, social, or economic effects of 

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

21 the effectiveness of such responses. 

22 (b) AWARDS.—Each Federal science agency author23 ized to receive funds under this Act shall develop proce24 dures to award such funds and shall award such funds 

25 as rapidly as possible. 


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

2 be awarded during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 and funds 

3 so awarded shall remain available for expenditure for up 

4 to two years. 

5 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS. 

6 Until such time as a research institution has deter7 mined it can safely reopen a research laboratory funded 

8 by a Federal science agency, such agency shall continue 

9 to interpret regulations in a manner consistent with— 

10 (1) the memorandum issued by the Office of 

11 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti12 tled ‘‘Administrative Relief for Recipients and Appli13 cants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Im14 pacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID–19) due 

15 to Loss of Operations’’; and 

16 (2) the memorandum issued by the Office of 

17 Management and Budget on March 19, 2020, enti18 tled ‘‘Managing Federal Contract Performance 

19 Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus 

20 (COVID–19)’’. 

21 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 (a) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—There is au23 thorized to be appropriated to the Department of Agri24 culture for fiscal year 2020— 


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1 (1) $300,000,000 to fund activities under sec2 tion 4; and 

3 (2) $80,000,000 to carry out cooperative exten4 sion and education programs in response to exigent 

5 circumstances created by the COVID–19 pandemic. 

6 (b) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—There is author7 ized to be appropriated $650,000,000 to the Department 

8 of Commerce for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 

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

10 be for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad11 ministration and at least $300,000,000 shall be for the 

12 National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

13 (c) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—There is author14 ized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Depart15 ment of Defense for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

16 under section 4. 

17 (d) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.—There is author18 ized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the Department 

19 of Education for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under 

20 section 4 for the Institute for Education Sciences. 

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

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

23 Energy for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under sec24 tion 4, of which at least $3,000,000,000 shall be for use 

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


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1 for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, at least 

2 $450,000,000 shall be for Nuclear Energy, at least 

3 $300,000,000 shall be for Fossil Research and Develop4 ment, at least $150,000,000 shall be for ARPA–E, and 

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

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

7 to be appropriated $300,000,000 to the Department of In8 terior for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 

9 4 for the United States Geological Survey. 

10 (g) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV11 ICES.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

12 $10,000,000,000 to the Department of Health and 

13 Human Services for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

14 under section 4 for the National Institutes of Health. 

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

16 $2,000,000,000 to the National Aeronautics and Space 

17 Administration for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities 

18 under section 4. 

19 (i) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.—There is au20 thorized to be appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the Na21 tional Science Foundation for fiscal year 2020 to fund ac22 tivities under section 4. 

23 (j) ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.—There is 

24 authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 to the EnviVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7308.IH H7308

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1 ronmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2020 to fund 

2 activities under section 4. 

Æ 


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