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WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Rick Perry has emerged as a key defender of a high-risk, high-reward research program known as Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, even as the very administration he serves keeps trying to eliminate it.

That discordant dynamic showed up again Tuesday as the former Texas governor appeared before a Senate panel to defend the Energy Department’s $30 billion budget.

President Donald Trump's spending plan, released this year, once again proposed winding down ARPA-E, a $300 million program that enjoys bipartisan support. Perry, who would have had a say in that budget, has stoked tension about the program in the past by freezing some of its funding.

But the Texan said Tuesday that he had been able to look at ARPA-E — which has featured some 30 projects in Texas alone — and “found some very, very positive things that came out of it.”

“If this Congress ... supports the funding of that, it will be operated in a way that you will be most pleased with,” he told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Perry's tenure

The subtle bit of defiance offers additional insight into Perry’s tenure as energy secretary, a job he has now held for more than a year.

He has kept a lower profile than some of his Cabinet counterparts, save for a failed attempt to boost the coal industry in the name of energy grid resilience. He has touted a vision for a "new energy realism," earning plaudits from Trump for his efforts.

His relatively smooth ride has even contributed to rumors that the president is considering Perry to replace embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

The Texan dismissed that prospect last week as "fake news," saying he would be "energy secretary from now until the foreseeable future — happily." He reiterated that point Tuesday, telling lawmakers that he was "not going anywhere."

“I’ll be here,” the Republican said.

Funding flaps

His continued leadership of the Energy Department, however, will mean confronting various funding flaps that have put the White House and Congress at odds.

ARPA-E is far from alone in that category. But it stands out as a favorite among many Republicans and Democrats, who praise its focus on funding the early-stage development of energy technologies that the private sector might consider too risky.

Battery storage, solar panels and carbon capture are just a few examples.

The Trump administration, however, put ARPA-E on the chopping block in the first budget it released last year. Permanent cuts never materialized, thanks to Congress’ intervention. The White House this year has tried again.

The proposed elimination of ARPA-E recognizes the “private sector's primary role in taking risks to commercialize breakthrough energy technologies with real market potential,” Trump’s budget request said, echoing the view of some conservative groups.

Perry added to the drama last year by temporarily freezing some of the program's funding as part of an agency review.

That move left some researchers in Texas and across the U.S. in a lurch, angering lawmakers such as Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas. And a recent report by the Government Accountability Office faulted the review for creating "uncertainty" and delaying important project timelines.

Congressional support

But Perry has become an increasingly vocal advocate for ARPA-E. And not a moment too soon for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican who leads the Senate energy committee, on Tuesday described ARPA-E as a “program that undertakes innovative, pioneering work.” Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Democrat, said axing the program would kill “science, innovation and DOE jobs.”

Here is my message to all of the innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists, and students at the @ARPAE conference in National Harbor, Md.#NewEnergyRealism #Energy #USA pic.twitter.com/CoxIT81LdH — Rick Perry (@SecretaryPerry) March 14, 2018

The energy chief, making the rounds on Capitol Hill, has indicated that he will accede to Congress’ wishes.

He told the Senate panel on Tuesday that he respected the congressional appropriations process. He also told a House committee last week that if the will was to keep ARPA-E, "we'll have good success and can stand up together and say how this is supposed to work."

The Texan, however, has done more than just defer.

Perry last week appeared in a video that played at a major ARPA-E summit in Washington. In it, he touted the “power of innovation that’s on display,” describing the event as a “window into our future and the product of some of the very best and brightest in America.”

“ARPA-E," he said, "is one of the reasons DOE has had and is having such a profound impact on American lives.”