[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 127 (Monday, September 8, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H7260-H7263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AMERICAN SUPER COMPUTING LEADERSHIP ACT

  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 2495) to amend the Department of Energy High-End 
Computing Revitalization Act of 2004 to improve the high-end computing 
research and development program of the Department of Energy, and for 
other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2495

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``American Super Computing 
     Leadership Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       Section 2 of the Department of Energy High-End Computing 
     Revitalization Act of 2004 (15 U.S.C. 5541) is amended by 
     striking paragraphs (1) through (5) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) Co-design.--The term `co-design' means the joint 
     development of application algorithms, models, and codes with 
     computer technology architectures and operating systems to 
     maximize effective use of high-end computing systems.
       ``(2) Department.--The term `Department' means the 
     Department of Energy.
       ``(3) Exascale.--The term `exascale' means computing system 
     performance at or near 10 to the 18th power floating point 
     operations per second.
       ``(4) High-end computing system.--The term `high-end 
     computing system' means a computing system with performance 
     that substantially exceeds that of systems that are commonly 
     available for advanced scientific and engineering 
     applications.
       ``(5) Institution of higher education.--The term 
     `institution of higher education' has the meaning given the 
     term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
     (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)).

[[Page H7261]]

       ``(6) Leadership system.--The term `leadership system' 
     means a high-end computing system that is among the most 
     advanced in the world in terms of performance in solving 
     scientific and engineering problems.
       ``(7) National laboratory.--The term `National Laboratory' 
     means any one of the seventeen laboratories owned by the 
     Department.
       ``(8) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
     of Energy.
       ``(9) Software technology.--The term `software technology' 
     includes optimal algorithms, programming environments, tools, 
     languages, and operating systems for high-end computing 
     systems.''.

     SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HIGH-END COMPUTING RESEARCH AND 
                   DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

       Section 3 of the Department of Energy High-End Computing 
     Revitalization Act of 2004 (15 U.S.C. 5542) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``program'' and inserting 
     ``coordinated program across the Department'';
       (B) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (1);
       (C) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(3) partner with universities, National Laboratories, and 
     industry to ensure the broadest possible application of the 
     technology developed in this program to other challenges in 
     science, engineering, medicine, and industry.'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``vector'' and all 
     that follows through ``architectures'' and inserting 
     ``computer technologies that show promise of substantial 
     reductions in power requirements and substantial gains in 
     parallelism of multicore processors, concurrency, memory and 
     storage, bandwidth, and reliability''; and
       (3) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following:
       ``(d) Exascale Computing Program.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct a 
     coordinated research program to develop exascale computing 
     systems to advance the missions of the Department.
       ``(2) Execution.--The Secretary shall, through competitive 
     merit review, establish two or more National Laboratory-
     industry-university partnerships to conduct integrated 
     research, development, and engineering of multiple exascale 
     architectures, and--
       ``(A) conduct mission-related co-design activities in 
     developing such exascale platforms;
       ``(B) develop those advancements in hardware and software 
     technology required to fully realize the potential of an 
     exascale production system in addressing Department target 
     applications and solving scientific problems involving 
     predictive modeling and simulation and large-scale data 
     analytics and management; and
       ``(C) explore the use of exascale computing technologies to 
     advance a broad range of science and engineering.
       ``(3) Administration.--In carrying out this program, the 
     Secretary shall--
       ``(A) provide, on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, 
     access for researchers in United States industry, 
     institutions of higher education, National Laboratories, and 
     other Federal agencies to these exascale systems, as 
     appropriate; and
       ``(B) conduct outreach programs to increase the readiness 
     for the use of such platforms by domestic industries, 
     including manufacturers.
       ``(4) Reports.--
       ``(A) Integrated strategy and program management plan.--The 
     Secretary shall submit to Congress, not later than 90 days 
     after the date of enactment of the American Super Computing 
     Leadership Act, a report outlining an integrated strategy and 
     program management plan, including target dates for 
     prototypical and production exascale platforms, interim 
     milestones to reaching these targets, functional 
     requirements, roles and responsibilities of National 
     Laboratories and industry, acquisition strategy, and 
     estimated resources required, to achieve this exascale system 
     capability. The report shall include the Secretary's plan for 
     Departmental organization to manage and execute the Exascale 
     Computing Program, including definition of the roles and 
     responsibilities within the Department to ensure an 
     integrated program across the Department. The report shall 
     also include a plan for ensuring balance and prioritizing 
     across ASCR subprograms in a flat or slow-growth budget 
     environment.
       ``(B) Status reports.--At the time of the budget submission 
     of the Department for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
     submit a report to Congress that describes the status of 
     milestones and costs in achieving the objectives of the 
     exascale computing program.
       ``(C) Exascale merit report.--At least 18 months prior to 
     the initiation of construction or installation of any 
     exascale-class computing facility, the Secretary shall 
     transmit a plan to the Congress detailing--
       ``(i) the proposed facility's cost projections and 
     capabilities to significantly accelerate the development of 
     new energy technologies;
       ``(ii) technical risks and challenges that must be overcome 
     to achieve successful completion and operation of the 
     facility; and
       ``(iii) an independent assessment of the scientific and 
     technological advances expected from such a facility relative 
     to those expected from a comparable investment in expanded 
     research and applications at terascale-class and petascale-
     class computing facilities, including an evaluation of where 
     investments should be made in the system software and 
     algorithms to enable these advances.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Smith) and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2495, the bill now 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  H.R. 2495, the American Super Computing Leadership Act, requires the 
Department of Energy to develop a plan to bring the United States into 
the next generation of supercomputing, also known as exascale 
computing.
  The Advanced Scientific Computing Research program at the Department 
of Energy is the primary Federal research and development program for 
these computing technology breakthroughs.
  High-performance computing has enabled researchers to push beyond our 
previously understood scientific boundaries. This capability has solved 
major engineering challenges, ranging from the in-depth modeling of our 
nuclear weapons stockpile to increasing the fuel efficiency of cars. 
High-performance computing keeps the United States globally 
competitive.
  The country with the strongest computing capability will host the 
world's next scientific breakthroughs. Unfortunately, China currently 
hosts the world's fastest computer, not the United States. This bill is 
a step in the right direction to reverse this trend and to help keep 
America on the forefront of supercomputing.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), the 
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Brooks), the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Swalwell), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Lofgren), and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. 
Bonamici) for their initiative on this issue, and I urge my colleagues 
to support the bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 2495, the American Super Computing 
Leadership Act.
  This bipartisan bill would authorize an exascale computing program to 
promote the development of the next generation of the fastest computers 
in the world right here in the United States. The bill would also help 
ensure that we develop the software and algorithms that help us to make 
the best use of these computers.
  Exascale is often used interchangeably with ``extreme scale'' to 
refer to the next generation of supercomputers in general. It also 
refers to the computing systems that would be able to carry out a 
million trillion operations--that is a million trillion operations per 
second.
  That is a 1 with 18 zeros after it. Now, that is about 500 times 
faster than the world's fastest computers today. Developing these 
capabilities is vital to maintaining our leadership in a wide range of 
research areas.
  This legislation would authorize the Secretary of Energy to support 
research to significantly increase the computing power available to 
scientists from the Department of Energy, industry, universities, and 
other Federal agencies.
  I would also like to note that there is no new money being authorized 
here. We are simply ensuring that we are making the best use of our 
resources when it comes to the money that we are already investing.
  The capabilities made possible by these investments would enable our 
best and our brightest scientists to gain new insights into societal 
concerns, ranging from Alzheimer's disease to climate change.

[[Page H7262]]

  Other examples of both industrial and academic research that would 
benefit from advancing high-end computing capabilities include high-
temperature superconductivity to significantly reduce energy losses in 
the transmission of electricity, aerodynamic modeling for aircraft and 
vehicle design, pharmaceutical development, and fusion plasma modeling.
  Finally, this legislation would also require that the Department of 
Energy submit a management plan, as well as regular reports to Congress 
that detail how the Department of Energy expects to implement this 
program, as well as its progress to date.
  With this bipartisan legislation, we will be establishing a 
transparent program that will allow the United States to remain a 
leader in high-end computing. I expect that we may well reap benefits 
from this effort, even beyond what I have spoken about today and beyond 
the advances that any of us can now imagine.
  I would like to take a moment to compliment the sponsors of this 
legislation, Mr. Hultgren from Illinois and Mr. Swalwell from 
California, for their efforts to craft this bipartisan bill we have 
before us today. I also thank Ms. Lofgren from California and, of 
course, Science Committee Chairman Smith for his support.
  I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of this 
important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), who is a member of the Science Committee 
and also a member of the Science Committee's Energy Subcommittee.
  Mr. HULTGREN. I would like to thank the distinguished chair of the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the gentleman from Texas, 
for helping this legislation come to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2495, the American Super Computing Leadership Act, 
is an important update to a current statute which will ensure that 
America stays at the forefront of supercomputing technology for the 
benefits it brings to our national security, the economy, and, more 
broadly, our research capabilities as a Nation.
  While America and American companies are still leading the way for 
much of this current technology, it is important to point out that the 
National University of Defense Technology, in China, is now housing the 
world's fastest supercomputer.

  One of the Department of Energy's primary responsibilities within the 
National Nuclear Security Administration is the maintenance of our 
current nuclear stockpile. This stockpile stewardship responsibility is 
carried out with increasingly complex situations, especially as our 
stockpile has aged.
  The need for improved parallelism, capabilities, and decreased energy 
requirements are spelled out in this legislation to ensure the 
Department carries out a targeted basic research program to overcoming 
the most pressing needs.
  This legislation also points out and defines exascale as the next 
checkpoint to be accomplished. Exascale computers would exceed existing 
computing power by nearly 10,000 percent.
  I would like to point out, however, that exascale cannot be seen as 
the end point. It is just a step toward the larger goal of American 
leadership in this field. This legislation will ensure that the broader 
scientific community has access to these facilities on a competitive 
merit review process.
  The scientific drivers and the national security responsibilities 
should be the primary focus of this research, but we must also make 
sure that the crosscutting benefits of this research are not left at 
the wayside.
  This legislation would create partnerships with universities, 
industry, and the national labs to conduct the research, ensuring that 
the Nation as a whole benefits from this research more quickly and 
efficiently.
  In having the pleasure to represent the great State of Illinois, I 
have been able to witness how an ecosystem of innovation can best be 
fostered, and part of this is by making sure that our facilities are 
open to the public when it makes sense and does not interfere with the 
core missions of our Federal agencies and the labs.
  I have been able to see how Fermilab, in my district, and Argonne 
National Lab, which is just down the road, carry out groundbreaking 
scientific research, but they also have unintended crossover benefits, 
such as proton beam cancer therapy, which uses accelerators developed 
in our labs.
  User facilities, such as the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, have 
given a tremendous research capability to pharmaceutical companies, 
where companies doing research that used to take weeks can often spend 
more time with samples in the mail than on the lab bench.
  The computing capabilities this legislation will help bring about 
will have tremendous application in the health care and drug 
development fields, and the modeling simulations this will make 
available will allow manufacturers to build better prototypes that have 
been tested thousands of times virtually before they come off the line. 
This is why I ask all of my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on 
this important legislation.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), who is a member of the Appropriations 
Committee and a member of that committee's Energy Subcommittee. He is 
also a former member of the Science Committee, so we appreciate his 
participation today.
  Mr. FLEISCHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the 
American Super Computing Leadership Act, H.R. 2495. I want to commend 
Mr. Hultgren, Ms. Bonamici, and our chairman for their support of this 
great legislation.
  As part of my representation of the great people of the Third 
District of Tennessee, Oak Ridge is right in the heart of my district. 
This is the city that won the cold war. This is the city which was the 
birthplace of the Manhattan Project.
  These are wonderful people, and in that city sits the Oak Ridge 
National Laboratory, I believe one of the premier national labs in a 
great national lab system. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been in 
the forefront of the leadership on high-speed computing.
  I also want to commend our lab director, Dr. Thom Mason, for leading 
the way in supercomputing. His great successes in upgrading our 
computing facilities and in working with the other Department of Energy 
labs has been critical for the greater good of our Nation.

                              {time}  1545

  As my colleagues have already articulated, exascale is the next 
level. Right now, we are at a level called petaflop. Exascale is the 
next level.
  Ladies and gentlemen, a short time ago, the United States was number 
one. During my tenure in Congress, a couple of years ago, it was number 
one in the world in supercomputing. I want to maintain that we move 
forward and become number one again. We cannot let the Chinese or any 
other nation beat us in this fight. It is critically important.
  Why is exascale and supercomputing very important? I have actually 
seen these roomfuls of computers. It is critically important to our 
economic security as a Nation.
  All Members of this great House want America to be great again, and 
supercomputing is going to lead the way. This is an economic security 
issue, as every area of our economy is dependent on this. Banking, 
manufacturing, health care, commerce, and communication are all 
critically dependent on supercomputing.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their strong 
support of H.R. 2495, the American Super Computing Leadership Act.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 2495, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H7263]]



                          ____________________