Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The bill requires the Secretary of Energy and the Small Business Administration Administrator to enter into one or more memoranda of understanding to carry out joint, cross-cutting research and development activities that include small businesses. It permits reimbursable agreements and interagency collaboration, requires a report to Congress within two years, mandates consistency with federal research security law, and authorizes no new appropriations.
Left emphasizes climate and small-business inclusion; right emphasizes federal overreach risks.
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a concise administrative directive that appropriately focuses on establishing interagency agreements and a reporting requirement, with reasonable integration into existing law and an explicit prohibition on new appropriations.
The bill requires the Secretary of Energy and the Small Business Administration Administrator to enter into one or more memoranda of understanding to carry out joint, cross-cutting research and development activities that include small businesses.
It permits reimbursable agreements and interagency collaboration, requires a report to Congress within two years, mandates consistency with federal research security law, and authorizes no new appropriations.
Low-cost, administrative interagency cooperation with reporting and no new funding is historically likely to be enacted absent procedural obstacles.
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a concise administrative directive that appropriately focuses on establishing interagency agreements and a reporting requirement, with reasonable integration into existing law and an explicit prohibition on new appropriations.
Left emphasizes climate and small-business inclusion; right emphasizes federal overreach risks.
These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.
Left emphasizes climate and small-business inclusion; right emphasizes federal overreach risks.
Generally favorable: views coordinated DOE–SBA R&D as a way to expand clean-tech and equitable small business access to federal R&D.
Concerned the absence of new appropriations may make the effort symbolic rather than substantive.
Cautiously supportive: appreciates coordination and small business inclusion while valuing the no-new-appropriations approach.
Wants clear metrics, oversight, and efficiency to prevent wasteful bureaucracy.
Skeptical but not uniformly opposed: notes benefit to small businesses and the absence of new appropriations, but worries about expanded federal coordination, mission creep, and regulatory impacts from DOE involvement.
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Still ahead
Still ahead
Still ahead
Low-cost, administrative interagency cooperation with reporting and no new funding is historically likely to be enacted absent procedural obstacles.
The House fast-tracked this bill — skipping normal debate — and it passed with a two-thirds majority. It now moves to the Senate.
Suspending the rules allows the House to bypass normal debate procedures and pass a bill immediately with a two-thirds vote.
Left emphasizes climate and small-business inclusion; right emphasizes federal overreach risks.
Low-cost, administrative interagency cooperation with reporting and no new funding is historically likely to be enacted absent procedural o…
Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a concise administrative directive that appropriately focuses on establishing interagency agreements and a reporting requirement, with reasonable integration into…
Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.