[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H3361-H3363]
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. 874) 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.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 874

       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 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 
     15801).
       ``(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.

[[Page H3362]]

       ``(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 (Mr. Lucas). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Lipinski) 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 to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on H.R. 874, 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.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 874, 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. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Hultgren) for taking the initiative on this issue.
  DOE's Advanced Scientific Computing Research program is the primary 
Federal research and development program for innovation in computing 
technology. High-performance computing has paved the way for 
breakthroughs in medical imaging, genetics research, manufacturing, 
engineering, and weapons development.
  Faster computing speeds have revolutionized the energy sector, 
improved the efficiency of energy production, and aided in distribution 
technologies. Advances in computer modeling offer opportunities for 
scientific discovery in fields where experiments are too difficult, 
costly, or dangerous to conduct. These advances reduce costs and open 
the door to more innovative discoveries.
  The country with the strongest computing capability will host the 
world's next scientific breakthroughs. Unfortunately, China currently 
holds the world's fastest computer, not the United States. This bill 
should reverse this trend and help advance American competitiveness.
  Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), as 
well as the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell), the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. 
Esty), and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for their 
initiative on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to cosponsor H.R. 874, the American Super 
Computing Leadership Act. This is bipartisan legislation that I have 
had the pleasure of working on with my colleague, Mr. Hultgren, as well 
as others from both sides of the aisle in developing, including, as the 
chairman said, Mr. Swalwell, Ms. Bonamici, and Ms. Esty. This bill 
would authorize an exascale computing program to ensure that the 
fastest computers in the world, as well as their software and 
algorithms, which will help us use these machines to the maximum 
efficiency, are developed here in the United States.
  The term ``exascale'' is often used to refer to the next generation 
of supercomputers in general and is used interchangeably with ``extreme 
scale.'' This term is often applied to computing systems that are 
capable of carrying out a million trillion operations per second. That 
rate is approximately 50 times faster than the current fastest computer 
in the world.
  Through this legislation, the Secretary of Energy would be empowered 
to significantly increase the computing power that is accessible to 
scientists from Federal agencies as well as industry and academia. 
These investments would have a wide range of impacts by giving the 
Nation's best scientists the resources and support they need to 
flourish.
  Mr. Speaker, there are numerous fields of research in both the 
academic and industrial areas that would be greatly aided by this 
increased computing power. Fields such as pharmaceutical development, 
aerodynamic modeling for aircraft and vehicle design, advanced nuclear 
reactor design and fusion plasma modeling, combustion simulation to 
assist in the design of fuel-efficient clean engines, and high 
temperature superconductivity to significantly reduce energy losses 
while transmitting electricity.
  As a result of this legislation, the Department of Energy would be 
required to submit regular reports as well as a management plan to 
Congress describing how DOE intends to institute this program and its 
current projects. Lemont, Illinois' Argonne National Laboratory is a 
world leader in developing this new capability, so I am happy that just 
last month the Department of Energy announced a major award to support 
and significantly upgrade Argonne's advanced computing research and 
facilities. This bill will ensure that these investments are part of a 
transparent, long-term, coordinated strategy to keep the United States 
on top in this field. I also anticipate that the benefits that we will 
see from this legislation may well surpass the impacts that we can even 
imagine today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 874, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume 
to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), who is a sponsor of this 
legislation.
  Mr. HULTGREN. Mr. Speaker, I also would like to thank my good friend 
and distinguished chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology 
Committee, Chairman Smith from Texas, as well as my good friend, 
Congressman Lipinski from Illinois, as well as my other good friend, 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) all for helping to bring 
this legislation to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 874 will help ensure that America stays at the 
forefront of supercomputing technology by getting to the exascale level 
of computing--close to the speed of the human brain. These capabilities 
are vital for our national security, the economy, and, more broadly, 
the research capabilities of our 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 now houses the 
world's fastest computer.
  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 simulations as our stockpile 
ages. 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 overcome 
the most pressing needs.
  I would like to point out, however, that I believe, in agreement with 
the Secretary, that exascale is not the end point. It is just a step 
towards the greater 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 basis. The 
scientific drivers and the national security responsibilities should be 
the primary focus for computing research, but we must also make sure 
that the crosscutting benefits of this research are not left at the 
wayside.
  H.R. 874 would create partnerships with universities, industry, and 
the national labs to conduct this research, ensuring that the Nation, 
as a whole, benefits from this research more quickly and efficiently. 
With all parties at the table, businesses will be better able

[[Page H3363]]

to utilize the new technologies and algorithms that will result.
  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. For our Nation to reap the greatest yields from our research, 
our research facilities must be open to the public when it makes sense 
and does not interfere with the core missions of our Federal agencies 
and the labs.
  The user facilities in our national labs already serve over 30,000 
researchers every year, with university researchers taking precedence 
over others. And other user facilities, such as the Advanced Photon 
Source at Argonne, Illinois, have given a tremendous research 
capability to industry partners, such as pharmaceutical companies, 
where research that once took weeks is now done in hours, with samples 
spending more time in overnight mail.
  Mr. Speaker, the computing capabilities this legislation will help 
bring about will similarly have tremendous application in health care 
and drug development. We are just now getting to the point where 
computer simulations are giving us higher resolution images at the 
molecular level than we can get with microscopes when trying to 
understand how diseases, our bodies, and new treatments interact. And 
the modeling simulations these systems make available also allow 
manufacturers to build better prototypes that have already been tested 
thousands of times virtually before they come off the line.
  But perhaps most importantly, these capabilities will keep America 
competitive on the global scale. And the graduate students and postdocs 
that learn on these machines will take what they know wherever they 
decide to go, whether it be business or the Department of Defense.

                              {time}  1745

  He said the best form of technology transfer wears shoes. That is why 
I thank my colleagues for helping me bring this similar legislation to 
the floor again this Congress, and I recommend all my colleagues 
support this bill.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire, does the gentleman from 
Texas have any more speakers on this bill?
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers on this 
side, so I am prepared to yield back the balance of my time after the 
gentleman from Illinois.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
to close here.
  I want to thank Mr. Hultgren again. He represents Fermilab. I 
represent part of Argonne National Laboratory. It is good to work with 
him on this legislation and others to advance science in the United 
States. Even though there are few people who really understand what 
this means, we will all see the results of it.
  I thank the chairman for moving this bill forward. I urge my 
colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my 
time as well.
  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. 874.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________