Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 359, the Cost-Share Accountability Act of 2025, is a good government bill that does exactly what it says: It improves accountability. Led by Mr. Obernolte, this bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a quarterly report to Congress describing instances where it has modified or waived cost-share requirements and make these reports publicly available. DOE is subject to cost-share requirements when making awards for research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities. This means that each project must have a certain funding percentage, usually at least 50 percent, contributed by the award recipient. However, DOE can modify or eliminate those requirements, when necessary, which is an authority that can be critical to supporting early-stage technologies. H.R. 359 does not prevent DOE from waiving cost-share requirements. It simply ensures that any changes are reported to Congress and are made public. Transparency and accountability are important because they allow us to track how taxpayer dollars are spent once appropriated to DOE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1415”