Two science agencies coordinate research—but Congress won't fund it yet
H.R. 1350 — DOE and NSF Interagency Research Act · Filed by Haley Stevens (D-MI) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 13, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill directs the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation to coordinate research and development activities through a memorandum of understanding, focusing on joint priorities in areas like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, fusion energy, and advanced manufacturing. The bill establishes a competitive, merit-reviewed process open to federal agencies, national laboratories, universities, nonprofits, and other entities, and requires a report to Congress within two years on coordination achievements and future opportunities.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is establishing a memorandum of understanding and competitive process between DOE and NSF for joint R&D activities. It is fundamentally a coordination and governance instrument, not a funding authorization or appropriation.
What the text implies
- The bill does not appropriate funds; it creates a coordination framework. Actual research funding depends on separate appropriations, meaning the bill's impact is contingent on Congress funding the coordinated activities.
- The competitive, merit-reviewed process may shift research priorities toward areas jointly prioritized by DOE and NSF leadership, potentially deprioritizing research areas favored by one agency alone.
- The memorandum of understanding is not binding legislation; its terms and enforcement mechanisms are left to agency discretion, creating potential for implementation variance.
- The bill's reference to 'research security' (subtitle D of title VI of the R&D Competition and Innovation Act) incorporates foreign-investment and export-control compliance requirements, which may increase administrative burden on participating institutions.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a framework for coordinated, merit-based research funding across two major federal science agencies, potentially reducing duplication and accelerating innovation in critical areas (quantum, AI, fusion, clean energy) that serve broad public interests. The competitive process and transparency requirements (reporting to Congress) strengthen accountability, and the inclusion of universities and nonprofits ensures public-sector research benefits are widely distributed.
Who stands to gain
- institutions of higher education
- nonprofit research institutions
- national laboratories
- federal agencies (DOE, NSF)
Named in the bill
Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Laboratories, institutions of higher education, nonprofit institutions, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (Public Law 117–167)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology”
- Mar 24, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection”
- Mar 24, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $489,417 in lobbying spend. A filing names 50 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Haley Stevens, the sponsor, reported $1,745,251 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Society of Civil Engineers — $489,417 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,494 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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