Welcome to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Washington, D.C. — In a new letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans have requested an examination of the structure of laboratory safety programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA).  KEY LETTER EXCERPT :  This committee remains concerned about the effectiveness of the oversight HHS and its agencies provide to the laboratories they own and operate. In addition to numerous GAO recommendations that remain unimplemented by the FDA, both the CDC and the FDA recently announced organizational reforms to their laboratory safety and security functions, and it is not clear whether these changes will strengthen oversight or create new undue risk. The FDA has, for example, reorganized several of its laboratories such that they now fall within the Office of the Chief Scientist. This raises potential independence concerns, as the FDA’s laboratory safety and security functions report to the same office.  BACKGROUND :  The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans.   As such, HHS is most directly involved in leading public health preparedness and response efforts, as well as associated research.   However, past safety lapses involving the CDC, the FDA, and the NIH have been the result of multiple breakdowns in compliance with established policies coupled with inadequate oversight.   For example, in July 2014, boxes containing decades-old vials of smallpox and other hazardous biological agents were found in a storage space of an FDA laboratory on the NIH’s campus. GAO and other reviews resulted in numerous findings and recommendations to strengthen laboratory safety and security, which led to changes to the way HHS and its agencies oversee their laboratories.   Likewise, GAO and other reviews have highlighted the importance of laboratory science and security in the handling of federal select agents and other dangerous pathogens in research.  CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today sent letters to five independent federal agencies urging the Biden-Harris administration appointees to abandon partisan efforts and instead focus remaining efforts on bipartisan, consensus items.   The letters state, “The results of the 2024 presidential election are now apparent and leadership of the [agency] will soon change. As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power, the [agency] should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial item under consideration, consistent with applicable law and regulation.”    Click below to read each agency’s letter:   Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Federal Communications Commission (FCC)   Federal Trade Commission (FTC)   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)   Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Note: In the letter, Chair Rodgers urges NRC to continue timely implementation of the ADVANCE Act. 

Washington, D.C. — In a newly released staff report , House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans detail how the Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of spending nearly three billion taxpayer dollars on so-called “environmental justice” (EJ) grants. The report uncovers how EJ grants were given to radical environmental activist groups that attempt to exert political influence, engage in progressive election activities, and are backed by billionaires. Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), and Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Chair Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) issued the following statement: "It couldn’t be more clear: The Biden-Harris administration rewards its environmental special interests at the expense of the American people. As part of its radical rush-to-green agenda, the administration gave hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to activists who also engage in political activities. It was empowered to do so by congressional Democrats who jammed through legislation that was designed to rush money out the door as quickly as possible with no guards against waste, fraud, and abuse. Equally as alarming is how these policies benefit the Chinese Communist Party—the world’s worst polluter." BACKGROUND : Passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Biden in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) more than quadrupled the EPA’s budget. Included in that deluge of spending was nearly three billion dollars in EJ grants to be administrated through a variety of programs. One program relies upon a “pass-through” model, which hands $600 million taxpayer dollars out to 11 “grant makers” to then dole out to additional recipients—a process that lacks serious oversight protections. The report exposes how the Biden-Harris EPA funneled public funding to groups that exert political influence, engage in election activities, express anti-Republican sentiment, espouse radical progressive ideologies, and already receive significant funding from wealthy donors.  KEY REPORT EXCERPTS :  Simply put, the EPA is awarding taxpayer dollars to special interest groups committed to a radical energy agenda to “educate” others and drive public outreach, as well as assist those it engages with to influence government policymaking and outcomes. One might consider it akin to a taxpayer-funded lobbying operation. Given these organizations’ existing efforts to sway public opinion, they may use these awards to attempt to indoctrinate members of the communities in which they conduct outreach. [...] Under its EJTCTAC Program, the EPA awarded $10,000,000 to West Harlem Environmental Action, Incorporated (WE ACT) to operate a technical assistance center, the WE ACT Technical Assistance Collaborative. WE ACT lists “[f]ighting [l]iquified [n]atural [g]as and [f]alse [s]olution [i]nfrastructure” among its 2024 policy priorities. It has called on federal agencies to halt new or expanded liquified natural gas operations and vows to continue this “advocacy campaign.” Notably, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a pause on exports of liquified natural gas in January 2024. [...] Some selectees and partners appear to have clear political bias. The Climate Justice Alliance, selected to be a National Grantmaker under the EJTCGM Program issued a press release implying congressional Republicans deserved blame for a potential government shutdown in 2023. EJTCTAC Program selectee WE ACT posted a blog criticizing “Republican gas stove culture wars,” and House GOP Members’ “performative, out-of-touch agenda.” The New York Immigration Coalition, an EJTCGM Program partner, accused the Trump administration of preventing people from voting. Another partner, the Wyoming Outdoor Council, attacked the Trump administration’s “environmental rollbacks” and stated it would “successfully defend the good rules and regulations put in place by the prior administration.” Healthy Gulf urged on its website, “we must ensure that the federal government reinstates common sense, safety, and environmental oversights that the Trump administration rolled back.” CLICK HERE to read the full report. 

Washington, D.C. — In a new letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans have requested an examination of the structure of laboratory safety programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA).  KEY LETTER EXCERPT :  This committee remains concerned about the effectiveness of the oversight HHS and its agencies provide to the laboratories they own and operate. In addition to numerous GAO recommendations that remain unimplemented by the FDA, both the CDC and the FDA recently announced organizational reforms to their laboratory safety and security functions, and it is not clear whether these changes will strengthen oversight or create new undue risk. The FDA has, for example, reorganized several of its laboratories such that they now fall within the Office of the Chief Scientist. This raises potential independence concerns, as the FDA’s laboratory safety and security functions report to the same office.  BACKGROUND :  The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans.   As such, HHS is most directly involved in leading public health preparedness and response efforts, as well as associated research.   However, past safety lapses involving the CDC, the FDA, and the NIH have been the result of multiple breakdowns in compliance with established policies coupled with inadequate oversight.   For example, in July 2014, boxes containing decades-old vials of smallpox and other hazardous biological agents were found in a storage space of an FDA laboratory on the NIH’s campus. GAO and other reviews resulted in numerous findings and recommendations to strengthen laboratory safety and security, which led to changes to the way HHS and its agencies oversee their laboratories.   Likewise, GAO and other reviews have highlighted the importance of laboratory science and security in the handling of federal select agents and other dangerous pathogens in research.  CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today sent letters to five independent federal agencies urging the Biden-Harris administration appointees to abandon partisan efforts and instead focus remaining efforts on bipartisan, consensus items.   The letters state, “The results of the 2024 presidential election are now apparent and leadership of the [agency] will soon change. As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power, the [agency] should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial item under consideration, consistent with applicable law and regulation.”    Click below to read each agency’s letter:   Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Federal Communications Commission (FCC)   Federal Trade Commission (FTC)   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)   Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Note: In the letter, Chair Rodgers urges NRC to continue timely implementation of the ADVANCE Act. 

More than a decade has lapsed since the GAO’s last review Washington, D.C. —  In a new letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), bipartisan Energy and Commerce Leaders are requesting that the GAO conduct an extensive review of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Isotope Program. Led by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ) as well as Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), the letter addresses concerns regarding U.S. dependence on Russia for isotopes and other materials critical to American national security, advanced manufacturing, and medicine, especially following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “The DOE Isotope Program has been working for at least a decade to shore up domestic isotope development and free the United States from a position of dependence, but its progress in doing so is unclear. Current U.S. production still has not replaced our reliance on Russia and possibly other high-risk countries, and several proposed DOE facilities conceived as major contributors to the U.S. domestic supply chain remain in the design phase or, at best, under construction (chief among these is Oak Ridge’s Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, or SIPRC, which is reportedly not expected to start production until 2032). These dynamics raise serious questions and concerns about the security of the U.S. supply chain for these critical isotopes.” BACKGROUND: The DOE’s Isotope Program produces and sells hundreds of high priority isotopes that are rare—but essential—for the production of important commodities in national security, advanced manufacturing, and medicine.  The DOE is often the only, or one of very few, global producers of such isotopes, which are in short supply or represent a supply chain risk. However, the United States still relies on obtaining several materials and commercially produced isotopes from other, sometimes adversarial countries, such as Russia.  The GAO last reviewed the DOE Isotope program in 2012 and has not conducted a review since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.  According to a 2022 testimony by the executive director of the Council on Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals, the U.S. still relies nearly exclusively on Russia to obtain 44 isotopes that are critical in industrial applications and cancer treatment.  China has also emerged as a new global supplier of stable isotopes, positioning the U.S. for even further foreign reliance to keep Americans healthy and safe. CLICK HERE to read the full letter.