House Science, Space and Technology Committee members voted Thursday to advance legislation to reauthorize the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy for a five-year period, Nextgov reported Friday.
The bill includes a $2.9 billion funding boost for ARPA-E and safeguards against duplicative research initiatives with other agencies or companies.
Democrat and Republican members of the panel reached a compromise agreement to authorize $497 million in fiscal year 2021 spending at the agency and increase the allocation to $750 million by FY 2024.
An initial funding bill introduced in July would have provided $550 million for FY 2021 and increased gradually to $1 billion in three years. A provision in the amended legislation calls for Government Accountability Office to audit the agency’s programs.
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