[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)).
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``(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.
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