Swalwell Challenges Anti-Climate Science Bill in Science Committee

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15), lead Democrat on the Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy, today requested a bill reading during consideration of the Department of Energy Research and Development Act of 2014, a Republican bill that drastically cuts DOE research programs, deemphasizes climate change research, and was only provided to Committee Democrats on Friday, June 6, at 5:30 PM. Rather than read the bill, the Republican majority abruptly ended the meeting without allowing debate or a vote on the bill.

"Defying the historical bipartisanship of this committee, my Republican colleagues wrote this bill under the cover of darkness, and when we shined a light on its climate change denial and drastic cuts to important energy programs, they ran rather than have a substantive debate," said Swalwell. "I am disappointed that the Republicans excluded Democrats from a meaningful conversation on how we can work together to secure our energy future, instead choosing to side with the few ‘flat-earth scientists' that still deny climate change with this disastrous bill."

The Republican bill would reduce funding for certain DOE research programs to Bush-era levels. Funding for R&D programs in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) would be slashed by 29 percent. Programs within the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) would be decreased by $40 million from FY 2014 levels.