Education

• Educational Training
  • With a vote of 416-0 the House of Representative approved the Green Energy Education Act of 2007 (H.R. 1716) in June of 2007. The bill will allow the Secretary of Energy to contribute research and development funds to the National Science Foundation for the purpose of supporting graduate education that is related to energy technology. It also authorizes the Secretary to provide funds for the improvement of undergraduate and graduate engineering and architecture curriculum on the design and construction of "high performance buildings." Representative Lampson voted for this bill. H.R. 1716 was ultimately integrated into the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272) which is now law, but was not fully funded in the budget.
• Educational Funding
  • Representative Lampson did not vote on the 10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds Science and Math Scholarship Act (H.R. 362). The legislation will require the National Science Foundation to increase its funding of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program with the goal of increasing the number of math and science teachers by up to 10,000 per year. The Noyce program provides scholarships to math, science, technology, and engineering students who commit to becoming teachers upon graduation. The legislation passed with a vote of 389-22.
• Teaching Evolution/Intelligent Design
  • Nothing posted to date

Energy

• Fuel Economy Standards
  • See discussion of CLEAN Energy Act under Renewable Energy section.
• Nuclear Power
  • Nothing posted to date
• Renewable Energy
  • In May 2008, Representative Lampson introduced legislation named Invest in Energy Independence Act (H.R.6067). It is an amendment to Energy Policy and Conservation Act to help contain the surging oil prices and to modernize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in response to the energy crisis. The bill provides $1 billion for alternative energy research that will free the U.S. from reliance on foreign energy sources. It further outlines eleven categories of energy research and development, including ARPA-E, Rural Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, and Hydrogen Research.
  • In January of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6). This legislation is intended to address a royalties oversight that occurred when the Department of the Interior issued leases for off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from 1998 to 1999. The bill would also deny income tax deductions for oil and gas companies. Revenues generated from these provisions would be used for the development of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources. Opponents of the bill claimed that the legislation would raise costs for the domestic production of oil and could increase foreign oil imports. Representative Lampson voted against this legislation, which passed with a vote of 264-163.
    
    During consideration of H.R. 6 in June of 2007, the Senate changed the focus of the legislation into developing a more comprehensive energy bill that focused on the development of renewable fuels, energy conservation, and increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. In the face of a veto threat from President Bush, the House passed the Senate version of H.R. 6 with amendments by a vote of 235-181 on December 6, 2007. Representative Lampson voted against this bill. The final Senate rendering of the bill, which passed with a vote of 86-8, still included language raising CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The final version of the bill passed in the House with a vote of 314-100 and was signed into law by President Bush on December 19, 2007.
  • In August 2007, Representative Lampson voted against the final passage of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3221). The legislation would provide tax incentives to promote the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, including guaranteeing up to $1 billion in loans for the development of biorefineries and biofuel production facilities. The measure also would repeal tax deductions to income attributed to the domestic production of oil and natural gas. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 241-172 and was sent to the Senate.
    
    A controversial amendment to the bill was H. Amdt. 748 sponsored by Representative Udall. This amendment would require retail electric suppliers to provide 15% of their electricity through a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) by 2020. Representative Lampson voted against the amendment, which was adopted with a vote of 220 to 190.

Coal Energy

• In a hearing on the Bush Administration's restructuring of the experimental carbon sequestration coal power plant project FutureGen, Representative Lampson questioned the Department of Energy's (DOE) cost calculations, saying "It looks like the department [of Energy] has cherry-picked numbers in order for us to make the decision you want."^[1]

The DOE cites the new plan as "a more cost-effective strategy to limit taxpayer exposure to escalating costs" on its FutureGen website.^[2]

Offshore Drilling

• On July 8, 2008, Rep. Lampson voiced his opinion on the issue of energy costs in the Citizen. He noted the letter he had sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging the Democratic leaders to adopt a bi-partisan approach to overcome the divide between the two parties and collectively solve the energy problem. He is a proponent of racheting up domestic energy production, especially of opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Outer Continental Shelf. He opposes raising taxes on domestic energy producers in time of soaring demand for energy, as the disincentive would drive independent domestic oil companies out of business and send them overseas, thereby exacerbating the nation's dependence on foreign oil. He added that the growing energy needs should be addressed with increasing offshore drilling complemented with alternative fuels to secure national economy and protect the environment.

Press Releases on Energy

• On May 17, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was noted in a press release as leading the discussion of the Science & Technology Committee’s Energy and Environment Subcommittee on harnessing the power of geothermal and ocean energy, which are part of H.R. 2304, the Advanced Geothermal Energy Research and Development Act of 2007 and H.R. 2313, the Marine Renewable Energy Research and Development Act of 2007.
• On June 14, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson issued a press release where he announced work on the Biofuels Research and Development Enhancement Act, which would provide for a research, development and demonstration program to address inherent problems with transporting and storing biofuels in existing infrastructure, create a program to research biorefinery energy efficiency, and increase funding for biofuels related research.
• On June 21, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was quoted on a press release as supporting three projects that enhance the country’s knowledge and use of biofuels, solar power, and carbon capture and sequestration: H.R. 2773, the Biofuels Research and Development Enhancement Act, H.R. 1933, the Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Storage Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 2007, and H.R. 2774, the Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007.
• On June 27, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was noted in a press release that announced four bills that will be included in the Energy Independence Day initiative, including one authored by Congressman Lampson, H.R. 2773, the Biofuels Research and Development Enhancement Act, which coordinates and compiles information from federal biofuels research programs; focuses research on infrastructure needs and efficiency of biorefineries; studies the challenges of broader biofuels usage; and increases funding levels for DOE biofuels research.
• On September 5, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was noted in a press release as leading the Science & Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing on the development the commercial potential of producing synthetic liquid fuels from coal (CTL).

Environment

• On August 8, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson issued a press release to introduce the Clean Air and Water Investment Act of 2007, which restores a provision that enables tax-exempt bonding for air and water pollution control facilities.

Climate Change

• On June 6, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was noted in a press release announcing the consideration of three bills addressing climate change and renewable energy: H.R. 906, the Global Change Research and Data Management Act, which would give local and state governments access to climate change data; and H.R. 2304, the Advanced Geothermal Energy Research and Development Act of 2007 and H.R. 2313, the Marine Renewable Energy Research and Development Act of 2007, which address geothermal and ocean generated energy.
• On June 7, 2007, Congressman Nicholas Lampson was noted in a press release where he led questions about the lack of action to restore climate sensors to NPOESS Weather Satellite Program, which provides data for tracking global warming.

Health

• Healthcare
  • In April of 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (H.R. 493) with a vote of 420-3. Representative Lampson did not vote on this bill. If enacted, GINA will prevent health insurance companies from adjusting premiums on the basis of genetic information and forbid requiring individuals to undergo genetic tests. The bill will also prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of genetic information. This legislation was passed by the Senate in a vote of 95-0. The House passed the Senate amended version of the bill on May 1, 2008, by a vote of 415-1. Rep Ron Paul was the only representative to vote against the bill. President Bush signed GINA into law on May 21, 2008.
  • On July 15, 2008, both Houses of Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (H.R. 6331), a bill to put off an almost 11% cut of payments to doctors who care for Medicare patients. The legislation offset putting off the payment cuts for doctors by reducing reimbursements to insurance companies that include Medicare patients in their managed-care programs.[1] The House voted 383 to 41 in favor of a veto override. Representative Lampson voted for this legislation.
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • In December 2005, Congress passed the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (H.R. 2520), which President Bush signed on December 20, 2005. The law "creates a new Federal program to collect and store cord blood, and expands the current bone marrow registry program to also include cord blood." Representative Lampson was not in office and did not vote for this bill. The legislation passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 431-1 and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
• Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • In April of 2007, Congress passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 5), which would have overturned President Bush's ban on the use of federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001. Representative Lampson voted for the legislation. The bill passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 247-176 and the Senate with a vote of 63-34. President Bush vetoed both this legislation and an identical bill that was passed by Congress in 2006.
  • On September 25, 2007, the House passed the final version of the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act” (H.R. 976) with a vote of 265-169. This bill would have increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $50 billion dollars over five years. Opponents saw the bill as too costly and were critical of the funding methods for the program, including a cigarette tax increase (read the floor debate). Representative Lampson voted for this legislation.
  • On October 3, 2007, President Bush vetoed H.R. 976, citing that the bill moved too many children towards federally funded healthcare. The House attempted to override the President’s veto, but the measure failed to pass with a vote count of 273-156. Representative Lampson voted for the veto override. On December 29, 2007, President Bush signed the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (S. 2499) which extends funding for SCHIP through March of 2009, but does not significantly increase the program.
  • On January 23, 2008, the House once again failed with a vote of 260-152 to pass H.R. 3963 to override President Bush’s veto of SCHIP. Representative Lampson voted for this legislation.

Innovation

• On August 9, 2007, President Bush signed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act (H.R. 2272) into law. The law authorizes the increased funding of the National Science Foundation putting it on track to double funding over the next seven years, increased funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and competitive grants for teachers and schools with the goal of strengthening the quality of education in science, math, and critical foreign languages. The bill was passed with unanimous consent in the Senate and was agreed to by a vote of 367-57 by the House after being reconciled in a conference committee. Representative Lampson voted for this legislation. The America COMPETES Act was not fully funded in 2008.

Research and Research Management

• Funding
  • In May of 2007, Representative Lampson did not vote on the final passage of the National Science Foundation Funding Authorization Act of 2007 (H.R. 1867), which authorizes appropriations for the National Science Foundation for the fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The final vote count was 399 to 17.
    
    During debate on this legislation, H. Amdt. 128 was offered by Rep. Honda that will allow the NSF to support the creation of K-12 curriculum focused on global warming, climate change, and actions people can take to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Rep. Sullivan of Oklahoma offered a secondary amendment, H. Amdt. 129, that would have required the education materials referenced in Rep. Honda’s amendment to "reflect the diversity of scientific opinion, including the diversity of opinion regarding the impact of human activities on climate change." Congressional Democrats criticized the Sullivan amendment as seeming "to suggest that there is an equal weight of evidence against that perspective [that humans are causing climate change] as there is in favor of it" (read the full debate). The Sullivan amendment failed by a vote of 166 to 250. The Honda Amendment passed by a vote of 252 to 165.
    
    Representative Lampson did not vote on the Sullivan amendment and did not vote on the Honda Amendment.

NASA

• On June 10, 2008, the White House rejected the bipartisan effort in Congress, headed by Rep. Nick Lampson, to give $2.9 billion to NASA for three additional shuttle flights to the international space station, claiming that the legislation would break the budget and would be vetoed unless changes were made.
• Representative Lampson, whose district includes many NASA facilities, is a large supporter of increased funding for the agency. An April 2008 article in the Orlando Sentinel details his push to eventually increase the agency's budget to $30 billion, including an extra $3 billion for NASA in 2009. The money, according to Lampson, would be integral in reducing the gap between the retirement of the shuttle in 2010 and the first planned mission of the next shuttle program in 2010.^[3]

Technology

• In the summer of 2008, the House met to consider the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6304), which would give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that wiretapped customers’ phones for the Bush administration shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The legislation also allows the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens for up to 7 days before obtaining court approval. The House passed the bill with a vote of 293 to 129, and the legislation was signed by President Bush on July 7, 2008. Representative Lampson voted for this legislation.

Endnotes

1. ↑ Analysis: Reps. want old FutureGen back. United Press International. April 16, 2008. http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Analysis/2008/04/16/analysis_reps_want_old_futuregen_back/9998/
2. ↑ Department of Energy. http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/futuregen/
3. ↑ Mark Matthews. "Texan's campaign champions NASA, gives slim hope for Kennedy Space Center jobs." Orlando Sentinel. April 15, 2008. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-nasajobs1508apr15,0,1346588.story