Congressman Sherman Secures Over $21 million for U.S.-Israel Cooperative Research

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) announced the inclusion of over $21 million in funding for U.S.-Israel Cooperative Programming in the government funding bill that President Biden signed last evening. Congressman Sherman led over 80 bipartisan Members in sending a series of letters to the House Appropriations Committee urging the funding of a variety of U.S.-Israel cooperative programs.

Congressman Sherman wrote the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, which became law in 2007. Since then, Congressman Sherman has led efforts to fund U.S.-Israel joint research projects. These programs fund joint research projects involving both Israeli and American scientists. The Israeli government matches the U.S. investment, so our research dollars go further.

Sherman said, "It is important that we make Israel relevant, even to Americans who don't focus on Middle East policy. Every American could benefit from break-throughs that could come from this research. All too often, when people hear ‘something happened in Israel,' they think of some recent terrorist incident, in a word – Tsuris. Hopefully, when we think of Israel we think not of Tsuris, but of Science."

The programs funded are:

-U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research & Development program: $2,000,000.

-U.S.-Israel bilateral cooperative program for COVID-19 research & development: $3,080,000.

-USAID-Israel International Development Cooperation Program for sustainability: $2,000,000.

-U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research & Development Foundation (energy): $2,000,000.

-U.S.-Israel Center of Excellence in Energy Engineering and Water Technology: $4,000,000.

-U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (cyber): $2,000,000.

-U.S.-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation grant program: $6,000,000.

These programs are not aid programs. They leverage relatively small U.S. investments to create private sector and academic innovation and often generate returns for the United States – like the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD), which has generated a $16.5 return for every dollar invested.

Congressman Sherman's co-leads in fighting for these programs were:Ted Deutch, Congressman Chris Pappas, Congressman Bill Johnson, Congressman David Kustoff, Congressman Jim Langevin, and Congressman Andrew R. Garbarino.

The following Members of Congress signed letters in support of these programs:Alma S. Adams, Rick W. Allen, Jake Auchincloss, Cynthia Axne, Jim Banks, Andy Barr, Gus M. Bilirakis, Carolyn Bourdeaux, Brendan F. Boyle, Julia Brownley, Tony Cardenas, Yvette D. Clarke, Gerald E. Connolly, Jim Costa, Joe Courtney, Angie Craig, Eric A. "Rick" Crawford, Jason Crow, Suzan K. DelBene, Antonio Delgado, Brian Fitzpatrick, Lizzie Fletcher, Bill Foster, Josh Gottheimer, Vicente Gonzalez, Hakeem Jeffries, John Katko, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Doug LaMalfa, Doug Lamborn, John B. Larson, Debbie Lesko, Mike Levin, Ted W. Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Elaine G. Luria, Stephen F. Lynch, Nicole Malliotakis, Carolyn B. Maloney, Kathy Manning, Lucy McBath, David B. McKinley, Jerry McNerney, Alex X. Mooney, Grace F. Napolitano, Richard E. Neal, Troy E. Nehls, Tom O'Halleran, Burgess Owens, Jimmy Panetta, Dean Phillips, Kathleen M. Rice, Maria Elvira Salazar, Linda T. Sanchez, John P. Sarbanes, Mary Gay Scanlon, Adam B. Schiff, Bradley Scott Schneider, Kim Schrier, David Schweikert, Albio Sires, Elissa Slotkin, Adrian Smith, Abigail Davis Spanberger, Haley M. Stevens, Marilyn Strickland, Thomas R. Suozzi, Eric Swalwell, Dina Titus, Ritchie Torres, Jefferson Van Drew, Juan Vargas, Marc A. Veasey, Ann Wagner, Jackie Walorski, Susan Wild, Frederica S. Wilson, and Lee Zeldin.

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