Title: RISE Act of 2020
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Research Investment to Spark the Economy Act or the RISE Act
This bill authorizes the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, the Interior, and Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation, and Environmental Protection Agency to provide support for research regarding COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) or research disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support under this bill shall be provided through federal science agencies with at least $50 million in basic and applied research obligations in FY2020. Support may be used to
Agencies must provide the support as rapidly as possible.
Provided funds shall remain available for expenditure for up to two years.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4286 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Research Investment to Spark the 
Economy Act'' or the ``RISE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Agencies provided Federal research grantees flexibility 
        during the pandemic to support graduate students, postdocs, 
        principal investigators, and technical support staff.
            (2) Agencies will need to provide current Federal research 
        grants extensions to cover time lost in research labs and in 
        the field that will impact the completion of that agency's 
        research missions and priorities. Additionally, agencies 
        allowed federally funded labs to donate necessary equipment, 
        like personal protective equipment among others, to support 
        hospitals and first responders, which will need to be re-
        purchased and will create additional expenses to Federal 
        contracts.
            (3) The need to ensure the United States sustains the 
        critical human infrastructure that undergirds the United States 
        research enterprise, which has created a longstanding 
        government-university partnership which has made America the 
        global leader in innovation, strengthening the health of our 
        Nation's citizens, economy, and national security.
            (4) While the Federal Government has made significant 
        investments in new research to address COVID-19, existing 
        research has been slowed down or stopped due to COVID-19 
        modified operations of campuses and laboratories.
            (5) Given the modified operations of many university-based 
        and national laboratories due to the pandemic, Congress is 
        concerned that the people who comprise the research workforce--
        graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators, and 
        technical support staff--and the future health and strength of 
        the United States research enterprise and manufacturing and 
        technology economies, among others, are at risk.
            (6) While our Nation's research capacity has demonstrated 
        it can absorb shocks and pivot to address immediate national 
        threats, the scale of this pandemic is still growing and 
        unprecedented in duration and impact.
            (7) Without funding, future innovations in areas such as 
        quantum, artificial intelligence, robotics, computing, 5G, 
        space exploration, digital agriculture, cancer, and aging will 
        be forestalled while the agencies are forced to use future 
        appropriations for new research, meant to create new knowledge 
        leading to the next generation of discoveries, to cover 
        existing grants. The Nation must innovate to launch the next 50 
        years of unparalleled economic leadership and be prepared for 
        any future pandemics.
            (8) Therefore, Congress believes it is vital that the 
        Federal Government take measures to help relieve the strain 
        agencies will be forced to face and sustain the strength of our 
        Nation's ability to remain a global leader in an increasingly 
        competitive global research environment, as other countries 
        continue to make disproportionately large investments in key 
        research areas.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Federal science agency.--The term ``Federal science 
        agency'' means any agency (as defined in section 551 of title 
        5, United States Code) with at least $50,000,000 in basic and 
        applied research obligations in fiscal year 2020.
            (2) Research institution.--The term ``research 
        institution'' means an institution of higher education (as 
        defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
        (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or a nonprofit entity that conducts 
        federally funded research.
            (3) National laboratory.--The term ``National laboratory'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).

SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS.

    (a) Allowable Uses.--A Federal science agency may use funds 
authorized under this Act to--
            (1) provide supplemental funding to extend the duration of 
        a grant to a research institution or National laboratory that 
        was awarded prior to the date of enactment of this Act, or to 
        expand the purposes of such a grant in order to--
                    (A) enable a graduate student or post-doctoral 
                researcher to complete work that was disrupted by 
                COVID-19;
                    (B) enable a principal investigator to complete 
                work that was disrupted by COVID-19;
                    (C) extend the training of a graduate student or 
                the employment of a post-doctoral researcher on an 
                ongoing research project for up to 2 years because of 
                the disruption of the job market due to COVID-19;
                    (D) allow for the use of laboratory animals, 
                reagents, equipment, or other items required for 
                research funded by a grant that was awarded prior to 
                the date of enactment of this Act, but need to be 
                replaced, refurbished, or otherwise made usable after 
                disruption because of COVID-19;
                    (E) reconfigure laboratories, restart equipment and 
                disrupted research, and other activities necessary to 
                safely resume on-site research activities in 
                laboratories that were temporarily closed or redirected 
                to COVID-19 response; and
                    (F) facilitate other competitively awarded research 
                and training activities that have been disrupted by 
                COVID-19;
            (2) provide supplemental funding through existing 
        competitively awarded cooperative agreements and contracts to 
        cover the increased costs of construction of scientific 
        facilities and equipment that have been delayed because of 
        COVID-19; and
            (3) award grants and cooperative agreements to institutions 
        of higher education to conduct research on the behavioral, 
        social, or economic effects of COVID-19 and the responses to 
        the disease, or on the effectiveness of such responses.
    (b) Awards.--Each Federal science agency authorized to receive 
funds under this Act shall develop procedures to award such funds and 
shall award such funds as rapidly as possible.
    (c) Timing.--Funds authorized under this Act shall be awarded 
during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 and funds so awarded shall remain 
available for expenditure for up to 2 years.

SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

    Until such time as a research institution has determined it can 
safely reopen a research laboratory funded by a Federal science agency, 
such agency shall continue to interpret regulations in a manner 
consistent with--
            (1) the memorandum issued by the Office of Management and 
        Budget on March 19, 2020, entitled ``Administrative Relief for 
        Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance 
        Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to 
        Loss of Operations''; and
            (2) the memorandum issued by the Office of Management and 
        Budget on March 19, 2020, entitled ``Managing Federal Contract 
        Performance Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus 
        (COVID-19)''.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Department of Agriculture.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Department of Agriculture for fiscal year 2020--
            (1) $300,000,000 to fund activities under section 4; and
            (2) $80,000,000 to carry out cooperative extension and 
        education programs in response to exigent circumstances created 
        by the COVID-19 pandemic.
    (b) Department of Commerce.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$650,000,000 to the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 2020 to fund 
activities under section 4 of this Act, of which at least $350,000,000 
shall be for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
and at least $300,000,000 shall be for the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology.
    (c) Department of Defense.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$3,000,000,000 to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2020 to 
fund activities under section 4.
    (d) Department of Education.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $200,000,000 to the Department of Education for fiscal 
year 2020 to fund activities under section 4 for the Institute for 
Education Sciences.
    (e) Department of Energy.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$5,000,000,000 to the Department of Energy for fiscal year 2020 to fund 
activities under section 4, of which at least $3,000,000,000 shall be 
for use by the Office of Science, at least $900,000,000 shall be for 
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, at least $450,000,000 shall be 
for Nuclear Energy, at least $300,000,000 shall be for Fossil Research 
and Development, at least $150,000,000 shall be for ARPA-E, and at 
least $100,000,000 shall be for the Office of Electricity.
    (f) Department of Interior.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$300,000,000 to the Department of Interior for fiscal year 2020 to fund 
activities under section 4 for the United States Geological Survey.
    (g) Department of Health and Human Services.--There is authorized 
to be appropriated $10,000,000,000 to the Department of Health and 
Human Services for fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 4 
for the National Institutes of Health.
    (h) NASA.--There is authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000,000 to 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for fiscal year 2020 
to fund activities under section 4.
    (i) National Science Foundation.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $3,000,000,000 to the National Science Foundation for 
fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 4.
    (j) Environmental Protection Agency.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $200,000,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency for 
fiscal year 2020 to fund activities under section 4.
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