ICYMI…

“The Genesis Mission: Prioritizing American Science and Technology Leadership”

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

December 10, 2025 (recording linked here)

HEARING INFORMATION

Witnesses and Written Testimony (Linked):

• The Honorable Dr. Darío Gil, Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy

HEARING HIGHLIGHTS

IN THEIR WORDS

SUMMARY OF OPENING STATEMENTS FROM THE FULL COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE

• Chair Babin opened the hearing by convening the subcommittee and emphasizing the timeliness of examining the Genesis Mission and DOE’s recent reorganization. He said President Trump had launched the Genesis Mission by executive order to build an advanced national platform that accelerated scientific discovery using AI. He explained that the Mission would connect DOE’s 17 national laboratories with universities and industry by integrating supercomputers, AI systems, quantum technologies, and scientific instruments. He stated the goal was to double U.S. R&D productivity by pairing researchers with intelligent systems that accelerated simulation, experimentation, and discovery without replacing scientists. He argued the effort was necessary to maintain U.S. technological leadership against competitors, especially the Chinese Communist Party, and he highlighted new DOE offices focused on AI/quantum and fusion as aligned with that objective.

• Ranking Member Lofgren asserted that the committee had sole House jurisdiction over DOE’s non-military science and energy programs and said the Secretary’s repeated absence undermined congressional oversight. She criticized what she described as politicized terminations of DOE awards, staffing disruptions, the elimination of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, and statements she said mischaracterized renewable energy and climate science. She stated that her insistence on cabinet-level testimony was not partisan and noted prior precedent of secretaries appearing before the committee early in a Congress.

• Energy Subcommittee Chair Weber described DOE’s reorganization as a typical step by administrations and argued it better aligned responsibilities between the Under Secretaries for Science and Energy. He said applied and mature energy technologies had been consolidated under the Under Secretary for Energy, citing the shift of the former Fossil Energy office—renamed the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office—as a key example. He stated the Under Secretary for Science now had a clearer mandate to advance fundamental research while driving innovation in AI, quantum, and fusion through newly created offices. He argued that bringing science and commercialization efforts under one umbrella could accelerate the R&D pipeline and provide clearer pathways for researchers and companies. He concluded by urging continued momentum to ensure the United States stayed ahead of adversaries in these critical technologies.

• Energy Subcommittee Ranking Member Ross described the Genesis Mission as a strategic effort to strengthen national prosperity and security. She said the initiative could double U.S. research productivity by connecting national laboratories, universities, and industry to develop AI platforms for science. She explained that the Mission aimed to train scientific foundation models, automate research workflows, and accelerate breakthroughs in advanced nuclear, fusion, grid modernization, quantum, materials science, biotechnology, and physics. She emphasized the importance of collaboration with academia and the private sector and highlighted North Carolina State University’s role and research strengths aligned with the Mission’s goals. She raised concerns that proposed DOE budget cuts and the termination or freezing of existing awards could conflict with the Mission’s ambitions and harm U.S. innovation and competitiveness. She concluded that DOE needed strong support and organization for the Genesis Mission to succeed.

SUMMARY OF WITNESS STATEMENT

• Under Secretary for Science, Dr. Gil, testified that the convergence of high-performance computing, AI, and quantum computing represented a scientific and technological revolution that would transform science and engineering. He said DOE’s missions and national laboratories positioned the Department to lead this shift and apply it to energy, discovery science, and national security. He explained that the Genesis Mission would mobilize the 17 national laboratories, academia, and industry to build an integrated “science and security platform” linking supercomputers, AI systems, quantum computing, and scientific instruments. He stated the platform would accelerate advanced nuclear and fusion, modernize the grid for reliability and affordability, enable physics-informed AI breakthroughs in materials and chemistry, and strengthen supply chains and defense-related manufacturing. He emphasized the central role of the national laboratory workforce and the need for broad partnerships, noting the private sector’s dominant share of national R&D. He concluded by stressing the urgency of global competition and said DOE intended to execute the Mission with the speed and seriousness of a Manhattan- or Apollo-scale effort.

SUMMARY OF KEY Q&A

• Chair Babin asked how initial funding from the Working Class Bonus Tax Relief Act was being used to stand up the Genesis Mission platform. Dr. Gil answered that DOE was deploying the funds to build the core platform and launch a portfolio of scientific and engineering challenges, including announcing $320 million for the American Science Cloud and transformational model consortia to curate datasets, train new AI models, and build shared computing and collaboration infrastructure.

  Chair Babin then asked how vital it was for Congress and the Science Committee to reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative Act. Dr. Gil answered that he strongly supported reauthorization, noting recent $625 million center renewals and emphasizing the need to both advance quantum information science and deliver practical quantum computing capabilities.

  Chair Babin followed up by asking how DOE’s existing quantum efforts would integrate with the Genesis Mission. Dr. Gil answered that Genesis was designed to connect high-performance computing, AI supercomputers, and emerging quantum supercomputers into a single integrated platform.

  Chair Babin then asked how eliminating green technology mandates under the Working Class Bonus Tax Relief Act had helped lower consumer energy costs. Dr. Gil answered that DOE was prioritizing common-sense energy production, reducing regulatory burdens, and consumer choice to help improve affordability and lower costs.

• Ranking Member Lofgren asked whether DOE should pursue a one-time $10 billion federal investment in fusion research to compete with China’s significantly higher spending levels. Dr. Gil answered that fusion was a top priority for both himself and Secretary Wright, pointed to DOE’s recently released fusion roadmap, and highlighted the importance of complementing substantial private-sector investment.

  Ranking Member Lofgren then cautioned against reallocating already-appropriated Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds for fusion and pressed for direct federal research funding. Dr. Gil answered that DOE was working collaboratively with industry and academia on an integrated national roadmap to deliver fusion power plants in the early 2030s.

• Rep. Fleischmann asked what early milestones or successes DOE was tracking for the Genesis Mission. Dr. Gil answered that DOE was focused on rapid platform construction, securing high-performance and AI computing capacity, developing AI models for science and engineering, and demonstrating closed-loop workflows that automatically linked computation, analysis, and physical experiments.

• Rep. Bonamici asked how DOE reconciled the Genesis Mission’s stated goals of reliability and affordability with DOE’s termination of hundreds of energy efficiency, workforce, and grid modernization projects and proposed cuts to related offices. Dr. Gil answered that he had not been involved in the project review process and could not provide details, but he said the Genesis platform he oversaw was intended to provide foundational infrastructure that could accelerate progress across energy priorities.

  Rep. Bonamici then asked for a commitment to providing the committee with the documentation and analysis DOE used to justify the project cancellations. Dr. Gil answered that he would relay her request.

  Rep. Bonamici next asked how DOE justified removing or restructuring offices like OCED and EERE while claiming Genesis depended on a modern, resilient grid. Dr. Gil answered that he understood OCED would continue in an integrated form within another office and said he did not have additional knowledge about the other offices.
  Rep. Bonamici then asked whether it was a coincidence that an analysis showed most canceled grants were in states President Trump had lost in 2024.
  Dr. Gil answered that he could not comment because he had not been involved in the project review program.

• Rep. Obernolte asked how the Genesis Mission would expand access to high-quality federal datasets, arguing that breakthroughs like AlphaFold depended on decades-long data compilation efforts. Dr. Gil answered that curated, AI-ready datasets were central to Genesis and described how disciplined data creation and stewardship across fields could enable AI to move beyond language and code into physics, chemistry, and engineering, supported by a dedicated data-focused team.
  Rep. Obernolte then asked how DOE could move faster given the federal government’s slow pace and pointed to the years-long process of establishing quantum centers as a cautionary example. Dr. Gil answered that the main failure mode was moving too slowly and said the U.S. had to act with urgency because AI-enabled capability gaps could become orders of magnitude larger if adversaries advanced faster.

• Rep. Ross asked what role research universities played in Genesis and how to reassure academia that partnerships would be reliable amid concerns about canceled grants and perceived censorship pressures. Dr. Gil answered that universities were indispensable to the national R&D ecosystem and said Genesis depended on academia through extramural research, rotational opportunities at national labs, access to infrastructure, and education reforms such as more dual degrees combining STEM with computing and AI.

  Rep. Ross then asked how important it was to attract top international STEM students to support Genesis given reports of declining foreign student enrollment. Dr. Gil answered that attracting global talent remained a strength of the U.S., but he warned that dependence on foreign talent was at an all-time high and said the country also needed to invest more in Americans’ participation in science and engineering.

  Rep. Ross added that strengthening domestic talent pipelines included institutions like HBCUs and land-grant universities. Dr. Gil answered that a major domestic gap was K–12 STEM education, especially math, and said reversing that trend was a key national challenge.

• Rep. Self asked where adversaries like China might create choke points—through theft, scale, and market control—and requested detail on how DOE would secure Genesis. Dr. Gil answered that security was built into Genesis by design through managed security environments, intelligence support, leadership accountability, and comprehensive protections spanning cyber, physical security, vetting, and risk management across open, proprietary, and classified work.

  Rep. Self then asked whether Congress should expand export controls, including on advanced chips such as Nvidia hardware. Dr. Gil answered that he deferred on specific line-drawing decisions but said policymakers had to balance global adoption and market access against preventing strategic advantages for adversaries.

  Rep. Self then asked how cost-sharing would work with private-sector partners in a resource-constrained environment. Dr. Gil answered that private co-investment was necessary and described partnership models where industry helped build computing capacity at national labs in exchange for shared use that advanced both public mission outcomes and private objectives.

• Rep. Salinas asked a series of yes-or-no questions on climate change, including whether global warming had benefits, whether the media drove concern, whether links to extreme weather were valid, and whether climate change constituted a crisis. Dr. Gil responded that climate change was a real and important phenomenon but said several of the questions were complex and could not be reduced to simple yes-or-no answers.

  Rep. Salinas asked how it was coordinated internally after DOE canceled smart grid funding in Oregon despite Genesis’s stated goal of an intelligent, resilient grid. Dr. Gil answered that his primary focus had been coordinating the Genesis Mission across DOE and OSTP, emphasizing unified leadership, shared methodology, and alignment of programmatic investments.

• Rep. Biggs asked how subsurface characterization data from sites like Savannah River and Hanford could be treated as a national asset to accelerate environmental cleanup, energy production, and critical materials extraction. Dr. Gil answered that AI could unlock value from decades of subsurface data by enabling analysis and modeling that had previously been computationally infeasible, reducing cleanup timelines and costs.

  Rep. Biggs then asked how the U.S. could secure supply chains—from critical minerals through advanced manufacturing—to insulate Genesis-related technologies from foreign influence. Dr. Gil answered that technology roadmaps needed to explicitly map supply-chain dependencies from the outset, prioritize domestic production and friend-shoring, and avoid repeating mistakes seen in semiconductors.

• Rep. Foushee asked why DOE had failed to provide FY2025 funding for Manufacturing USA institutes despite administration rhetoric supporting domestic manufacturing. Dr. Gil answered that he did not have details on the funding lapse but committed to following up, while emphasizing Genesis’s potential to enable AI-driven closed-loop advanced manufacturing.

  Rep. Foushee then asked how DOE ensured that investments in quantum research translated into a durable education and workforce pipeline. Dr. Gil answered that quantum computing uniquely inspired student interest and that DOE would continue supporting education and coordination with NSF to build long-term quantum literacy.

• Rep. Weber asked how DOE’s reorganization elevated the Office of Science and aligned it with the Genesis Mission. Dr. Gil answered that the reorganization preserved the Office of Science as the nation’s primary funder of physical sciences while creating new offices for AI, quantum, and fusion to translate mature science into deployable technology.

  Rep. Weber then asked how the reorganization would increase baseload power while lowering consumer costs. Dr. Gil answered that the administration prioritized reliable, affordable, and secure energy by removing barriers, encouraging private-sector investment, and scaling innovation to meet rapidly growing power demand.

  Rep. Weber Weber asked how public-private partnerships would expand as Genesis evolved. Dr. Gil answered that DOE would combine traditional contractor roles with deeper partnership models to leverage private infrastructure, capital, and expertise at speed.

• Rep. Sykes asked why the administration was eliminating clean-energy programs while claiming to support increased energy production.
  Dr. Gil answered that different energy sources involved tradeoffs and that DOE prioritized reliability, affordability, and security rather than treating all energy sources as equivalent.

  Rep. Sykes pressed for clarity on which energy sources DOE favored. Dr. Gil answered that current energy production relied primarily on natural gas and coal, with nuclear playing a smaller role, and emphasized enthusiasm for expanding nuclear and advancing fusion.

  Rep. Sykes questioned how DOE could fully fund nuclear projects like fission surface power while cutting clean-energy programs. Dr. Gil answered that his energy portfolio focused on fusion rather than fission and that he had not been involved in decisions to cut clean-energy projects.

• Rep. Hurd asked what concrete milestones Congress should use to assess whether Genesis was succeeding. Dr. Gil answered that success metrics included growth in AI computing capacity, expansion of AI-ready datasets, and increased deployment of AI models capable of scientific and engineering problem-solving.

  Rep. Hurd asked over what timeframe progress should be measured. Dr. Gil answered that progress should be assessed quarterly and complemented by tracking growth in AI-for-science problem portfolios.

  Rep. Hurd asked how Colorado institutions would participate in Genesis. Dr. Gil answered that Colorado’s strong quantum ecosystem positioned its universities and labs to play a major role.

  Rep. Hurd asked how DOE would prevent AI-enabled discoveries from lowering barriers for adversaries. Dr. Gil answered that DOE would use a technology risk-management framework to determine what research remained open, proprietary, or restricted.

• Rep. Amo asked whether energy prices had fallen by 50 percent as President Trump had promised. Dr. Gil answered that the administration was committed to expanding energy production but did not state that prices had fallen by that amount.

  Rep. Amo asked whether DOE workers and programs were essential to keeping energy costs low. Dr. Gil answered that DOE’s missions in energy, science, and national security were critical to the country and that he was proud of the department’s work.

  Rep. Amo argued that workforce cuts and halted clean-energy projects contradicted claims of energy dominance and affordability. Dr. Gil answered that the administration supported an energy-dominance agenda but did not address specific price outcomes.

• Rep. Franklin asked who served as the single accountable leader for the Genesis Mission. Dr. Gil answered that he had been appointed by Secretary Wright as the director and was personally accountable.

  Rep. Franklin asked how DOE would prevent duplication with DOD, NSF, and NIST. Dr. Gil answered that coordination through OSTP and transparency about the Genesis platform had prompted agencies to collaborate rather than duplicate efforts.
  Rep. Franklin asked what barriers slowed advanced nuclear deployment and how Genesis could help. Dr. Gil answered that AI-driven end-to-end nuclear design and permitting efforts at Idaho National Laboratory could significantly shorten timelines.

  Rep. Franklin asked which supply-chain gaps posed the greatest risks to Genesis. Dr. Gil answered that critical materials and semiconductors were the most acute vulnerabilities and required sustained congressional support.

• Rep. Rivas criticized DOE project cancellations as politically motivated and asked whether qualified scientists and engineers were relied on in advancing research and innovation. Dr. Gil answered that the Genesis Mission was built and led by DOE’s scientific and engineering workforce and relied fundamentally on their expertise.

  Rep. Rivas asked whether they trusted warnings from nearly 1,900 scientists who reported a climate of fear and self-censorship in the research community. Dr. Gil responded by emphasizing the strong enthusiasm and unity he observed across laboratories, academia, and industry around the Genesis Mission and expressed confidence that its outcomes would ultimately strengthen American science leadership.

• Rep. Webster asked what guardrails DOE was putting in place to ensure Genesis AI systems produced reliable, verifiable scientific results. Dr. Gil answered that AI models would be grounded in physical reality through laboratory experimentation, allowing predictions to be tested and validated against real-world outcomes.

  Rep. Webster asked how DOE would ensure self-improving models were trained on authoritative data and produced reproducible results. Dr. Gil answered that expert scientists and engineers would curate high-quality datasets and supervise model development, avoiding the use of unvetted or low-quality data.

  Rep. Webster asked whether Genesis could support advanced modeling and war-gaming needs identified in national security reports. Dr. Gil answered that Genesis’s platform could support such simulations through interagency collaboration using shared infrastructure and problem-set portfolios.

• Rep. McBride argued that DOE historically advanced science through evidence-based research and asked whether the department should continue supporting innovation in wind and solar energy. Dr. Gil answered that DOE would continue supporting fundamental science that enabled advances across many energy technologies, including solar and wind.

  Rep. McBride asked whether Dr. Gil agreed with statements that wind and solar infrastructure were “worthless” when weather conditions were unfavorable. Dr. Gil responded that grid reliability required treating energy systems holistically and that simplistic characterizations failed to capture system-level engineering tradeoffs.

  Rep. McBride closed by urging the administration to align its policies more closely with scientific evidence and long-term innovation goals.

• Rep. McCormick asked whether nuclear energy was central to scientific and energy discussions about America’s future. Dr. Gil answered that nuclear energy was a critical component of both scientific research and the nation’s energy ecosystem.

  Rep. McCormick argued that rising energy demand made nuclear indispensable and asked whether large-scale energy expansion was possible without it. Dr. Gil answered that nuclear energy was an essential element of a future power system and supported increasing both nuclear fission and fusion capacity.

  Rep. McCormick emphasized concerns about offshoring energy production and pollution and argued for domestic production to strengthen security and environmental outcomes.

• Rep. Gillen asked whether DOE would work with her on legislation supporting regional quantum hubs. Dr. Gil answered that DOE strongly supported quantum research, highlighted recent funding renewals benefiting Brookhaven, and committed to working with her office on reauthorization efforts.

  Rep. Gillen asked how DOE prioritized investments in regions with established scientific strengths such as Long Island. Dr. Gil answered that DOE evaluated capabilities, infrastructure, and expertise when allocating resources and that Long Island was well positioned to contribute to Genesis.

• Rep. Begich asked for a description of the Genesis Mission’s top-level objectives in terms of human and economic outcomes. Dr. Gil answered that Genesis aimed to double the productivity and impact of U.S. research and development, driving long-term economic growth, health benefits, and national security gains.

  Rep. Begich asked whether researchers had a responsibility to consider how scientific discoveries might be used. Dr. Gil answered that while basic science outcomes were often unpredictable, DOE’s mission-driven research tied discovery to energy and security objectives.

  Rep. Begich asked about the transformative implications of breakthroughs such as fusion energy and raised concerns about unbounded agentic AI systems. Dr. Gil answered that fusion would be civilization-altering if achieved and emphasized that Genesis would not build unbounded or unsafe AI systems, prioritizing robust engineering and security.

• Rep. Whitesides asked whether DOE would release the rationale behind canceling major energy grants, including hydrogen hub projects in California. Dr. Gil answered that he had not been involved in those decisions but would relay the request.

  Rep. Whitesides asked how DOE would prevent AI models from being used to reverse engineer sensitive training data. Dr. Gil answered that models would be treated like data, with access controls based on whether efforts were open, proprietary, or classified.

  Rep. Whitesides asked whether private companies would be allowed to export model weights. Dr. Gil answered that export and access would depend on classification and that sensitive or proprietary models would not be shared.

• Rep. Kennedy asked what role national laboratories with nuclear expertise, such as Idaho National Laboratory, would play in executing the Genesis Mission. Dr. Gil answered that nuclear innovation—including AI-enabled design, permitting, and deployment of reactors—was a major Genesis application area.

  Rep. Kennedy asked how DOE would ensure accountability and maintain a competitive edge over China. Dr. Gil answered that he was personally accountable for Genesis, that DOE would use quantitative metrics and agile program management, and that progress would be tracked continuously.

  Rep. Kennedy asked how DOE would work with states to ensure infrastructure and workforce readiness. Dr. Gil answered that state policies, investments, and infrastructure were essential partners in delivering the energy and computing capacity needed for Genesis to succeed.

• Rep. Friedman questioned whether eliminating the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) was consistent with law and DOE’s stated innovation goals. Dr. Gil answered that OCED was not being eliminated, though he could not explain the earlier announcement suggesting otherwise.
  Rep. Friedman then pressed on whether he agreed with deprioritizing wind and solar energy given their cost stability, reliability with storage, and role in distributed energy resilience. Dr. Gil responded that all energy sources involved complex engineering tradeoffs and said he could not give a generic assessment of wind and solar’s role across all contexts.

• Rep. Riley highlighted American manufacturing history, particularly IBM’s origins in Endicott, New York, and emphasized rebuilding domestic manufacturing to strengthen competitiveness and the middle class. Dr. Gil agreed that bipartisan collaboration and leveraging innovation to rebuild manufacturing were essential and accepted Riley’s invitation to visit Endicott.

• Rep. Foster asked for staffing headcounts and future capacity plans for OCED and other DOE offices to ensure they retained real operational capability. Dr. Gil did not provide specifics during the hearing but acknowledged the importance of capacity and accountability.

  Rep. Foster raised concerns about scientific leadership within DOE, vendor lock-in risks in supercomputing infrastructure, and reliance on proprietary technologies. Dr. Gil answered that DOE would pursue heterogeneous systems, open architectures, and multiple vendors while avoiding dependence on a single supplier or adversarial technologies.

• Rep. Issa asked when the administration would implement a concrete plan to expand baseload energy capacity, particularly through colocated nuclear power, to meet projected data-center demand. Dr. Gil answered that colocating generation with large loads was increasingly necessary and said examples from states like Virginia and Texas showed it could be done successfully.

  Rep. Issa requested a written analysis estimating how much power could be generated by deploying modular nuclear reactors on military installations. Dr. Gil agreed to relay the request and seek a response for the record.

• Rep. McClain-Delaney asked how Genesis would engage diverse public-private stakeholders and strengthen U.S. leadership in international standards-setting for emerging technologies, including biotechnology. Dr. Gil answered that DOE was first unifying internal efforts, then coordinating across federal agencies through OSTP, and planned to collaborate with trusted international partners.

  Rep. McClain-Delaney emphasized the importance of transparency and stakeholder input to maintain competitiveness and national security.

• Rep. Subramanyam asked if the witness thought climate change was a hoax. Dr. Gil answered that climate change was a real phenomenon.

  Rep. Subramanyam questioned whether the witness supported DOE workforce cuts and whether data centers lowered electricity prices. Dr. Gil declined to endorse workforce reductions and said energy prices depended on multiple factors, emphasizing that data centers alone did not universally reduce or increase costs.

  Rep. Subramanyam concluded by disputing claims that expanding data centers would lower utility bills and invited Dr. Gil to visit his district to see consumer impacts firsthand.

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