America First Energy Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The America First Energy Act amends the statutory Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation connected to the Department of Energy. Voting board members, the executive director, officers, employees, and agents must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, admitted refugees, or lawful permanent residents, and no Department employee may serve as a voting board member. The bill therefore narrows who can govern or work for the foundation and draws a cleaner separation between DOE employees and voting board control. The stakes are energy-innovation governance, foreign-national participation, hiring rules, and conflict-of-interest safeguards.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. citizens seeking energy-innovation roles benefit because foundation leadership and employment are limited to preferred immigration-status categories. U.S. nationals benefit because they are expressly eligible for board, executive, officer, employee, and agent roles. Lawful permanent residents benefit because they remain eligible rather than being excluded by a citizens-only rule. Refugees admitted under immigration law benefit because the bill includes them among eligible foundation personnel.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation managers must screen board members, officers, employees, and agents for eligibility. Department of Energy employees lose access to voting board seats at the foundation. Foreign nationals without one of the listed statuses are excluded from foundation leadership and staff roles. DOE ethics and personnel offices must administer the separation between Department employment and foundation board voting power.
Key Provisions
- Restricts foundation voting board membership to listed U.S.-connected immigration statuses.
- Prohibits Department of Energy employees from serving as voting members of the foundation board.
- Requires the executive director, officers, employees, and agents to meet the same status eligibility categories.
- Amends the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act foundation governance rules.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Restricts leadership and employment at the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, refugees, and lawful permanent residents while excluding Department of Energy employees from voting board seats.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Research, Workforce Eligibility
Primary Purpose
Restricts leadership and employment at the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, refugees, and lawful permanent residents while excluding Department of Energy employees from voting board seats.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- U.S. citizens
- U.S. nationals
- Lawful permanent residents
- Admitted refugees
Identified Costs
- Foundation managers
- Department of Energy employees
- Excluded foreign nationals
- DOE ethics offices
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Webster of Florida introduced the following bill; which was …
Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology