Review - HR 8053 Introduced – DCEI Resilience

Last month, Rep Crow (D,CO) introduced HR 8053, the Guaranteeing Resilient Installations for Defense (GRID) Act. The bill would amend 16 USC 824o–1 to specifically allow DOE to “enter into contracts and cooperative agreements to improve the resilience of defense critical electric infrastructure”. No funding is authorized in the bill.

Moving Forward

Crow is not a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which this bill was referred for consideration, but one of his two cosponsors {Rep Peters (D,CA)} is a member. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in the bill that would engender any organized opposition to the bill. I suspect that if the bill were considered that it would receive bipartisan support. The bill would likely be considered by the full House under the suspension of the rules process.

Commentary

Crow and his other sponsor {Rep Bacon (R,NE)} are both member of the House Armed Services Committee. As such, it is easy to understand why they could be concerned about the resilience of electric power supplies for stateside military facilities. I would suspect that HASC would have a higher interest in such legislation being passed than would the Energy and Commerce Committee. But because of the way the Congress divides up responsibility for legislative review, it is very likely that this bill will never receive the consideration that it probably deserves.

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-8053-introduced - subscription required. [Added 7-19-22 21:20 EDT]