[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14585-14590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING REVITALIZATION ACT OF 2004

  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4218) to amend the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4218

       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 ``High-Performance Computing 
     Revitalization Act of 2004''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       Section 4 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 
     U.S.C. 5503) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``and multidisciplinary 
     teams of researchers'' after ``high-performance computing 
     resources'';
       (2) in paragraph (3)--
       (A) by striking ``scientific workstations,'';
       (B) by striking ``(including vector supercomputers and 
     large scale parallel systems)'';
       (C) by striking ``and applications'' and inserting 
     ``applications''; and
       (D) by inserting ``, and the management of large data 
     sets'' after ``systems software'';
       (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ``packet switched''; and
       (4) by amending paragraphs (5) and (6) to read as follows:
       ``(5) `Program' means the High-Performance Computing 
     Research and Development Program described in section 101; 
     and
       ``(6) `Program Component Areas' means the major subject 
     areas under which are grouped related individual projects and 
     activities carried out under the Program.''.

     SEC. 3. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
                   PROGRAM.

       Title I of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 
     U.S.C. 5511 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in the title heading, by striking ``AND THE NATIONAL 
     RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK'' and inserting ``RESEARCH AND 
     DEVELOPMENT'';
       (2) in section 101--
       (A) the section heading, by striking ``NATIONAL HIGH-
     PERFORMANCE COMPUTING'' and inserting ``HIGH-PERFORMANCE 
     COMPUTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT'';
       (B) in subsection (a)--
       (i) in the subsection heading, by striking ``National High-
     performance Computing'' and inserting ``High-performance 
     Computing Research and Development'';
       (ii) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the 
     following: ``(1) The President shall implement a High-
     Performance Computing Research and Development Program, which 
     shall--
       ``(A) provide for long-term basic and applied research on 
     high-performance computing;
       ``(B) provide for research and development on, and 
     demonstration of, technologies to advance the capacity and 
     capabilities of high- performance computing and networking 
     systems;
       ``(C) provide for sustained access by the research 
     community in the United States to high-performance computing 
     systems that are among the most advanced in the world in 
     terms of performance in solving scientific and engineering 
     problems, including provision for technical support for users 
     of such systems;
       ``(D) provide for efforts to increase software 
     availability, productivity, capability, security, 
     portability, and reliability;

[[Page 14586]]

       ``(E) provide for high-performance networks, including 
     experimental testbed networks, to enable research and 
     development on, and demonstration of, advanced applications 
     enabled by such networks;
       ``(F) provide for computational science and engineering 
     research on mathematical modeling and algorithms for 
     applications in all fields of science and engineering;
       ``(G) provide for the technical support of, and research 
     and development on, high-performance computing systems and 
     software required to address Grand Challenges;
       ``(H) provide for educating and training additional 
     undergraduate and graduate students in software engineering, 
     computer science, computer and network security, applied 
     mathematics, library and information science, and 
     computational science; and
       ``(I) provide for improving the security of computing and 
     networking systems, including Federal systems, including 
     research required to establish security standards and 
     practices for these systems.'';
       (iii) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs 
     (2) and (3), respectively;
       (iv) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated by clause (iii) 
     of this subparagraph--

       (I) by striking subparagraph (B);
       (II) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (C) as 
     subparagraphs (D) and (F), respectively;
       (III) by inserting before subparagraph (D), as so 
     redesignated by subclause (II) of this clause, the following 
     new subparagraphs:

       ``(A) establish the goals and priorities for Federal high-
     performance computing research, development, networking, and 
     other activities;
       ``(B) establish Program Component Areas that implement the 
     goals established under subparagraph (A), and identify the 
     Grand Challenges that the Program should address;
       ``(C) provide for interagency coordination of Federal high-
     performance computing research, development, networking, and 
     other activities undertaken pursuant to the Program;''; and

       (IV) by inserting after subparagraph (D), as so 
     redesignated by subclause (II) of this clause, the following 
     new subparagraph:

       ``(E) develop and maintain a research, development, and 
     deployment roadmap for the provision of high-performance 
     computing systems under paragraph (1)(C); and''; and
       (v) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated by clause (iii) of 
     this subparagraph--

       (I) by striking ``paragraph (3)(A)'' and inserting 
     ``paragraph (2)(D)'';
       (II) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:

       ``(A) provide a detailed description of the Program 
     Component Areas, including a description of any changes in 
     the definition of or activities under the Program Component 
     Areas from the preceding report, and the reasons for such 
     changes, and a description of Grand Challenges supported 
     under the Program;'';

       (III) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``specific 
     activities'' and all that follows through ``the Network'' and 
     inserting ``each Program Component Area'';
       (IV) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ``and for each 
     Program Component Area'' after ``participating in the 
     Program'';
       (V) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``applies;'' and 
     inserting ``applies; and'';
       (VI) by striking subparagraph (E) and redesignating 
     subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (E); and
       (VII) in subparagraph (E), as so redesignated by subclause 
     (VI) of this clause, by inserting ``and the extent to which 
     the Program incorporates the recommendations of the advisory 
     committee established under subsection (b)'' after ``for the 
     Program'';

       (C) in subsection (b)--
       (i) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (5) as 
     subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively;
       (ii) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``Advisory Committee.--'';
       (iii) in paragraph (1)(C), as so redesignated by clauses 
     (i) and (ii) of this subparagraph, by inserting ``, including 
     funding levels for the Program Component Areas'' after ``of 
     the Program'';
       (iv) in paragraph (1)(D), as so redesignated by clauses (i) 
     and (ii) of this subparagraph, by striking ``computing'' and 
     inserting ``high-performance computing and networking''; and
       (v) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) In addition to the duties outlined in paragraph (1), 
     the advisory committee shall conduct periodic evaluations of 
     the funding, management, coordination, implementation, and 
     activities of the Program, and shall report not less 
     frequently than once every two fiscal years to the Committee 
     on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
     on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate on its 
     findings and recommendations. The first report shall be due 
     within one year after the date of enactment of this 
     paragraph.''; and
       (D) in subsection (c)(1)(A), by striking ``Program or'' and 
     inserting ``Program Component Areas or''; and
       (3) by striking sections 102 and 103.

     SEC. 4. AGENCY ACTIVITIES.

       Title II of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 
     U.S.C. 5521 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) by amending subsection (a) of section 201 to read as 
     follows:
       ``(a) General Responsibilities.--As part of the Program 
     described in title I, the National Science Foundation shall--
       ``(1) support research and development to generate 
     fundamental scientific and technical knowledge with the 
     potential of advancing high-performance computing and 
     networking systems and their applications;
       ``(2) provide computing and networking infrastructure 
     support to the research community in the United States, 
     including the provision of high-performance computing systems 
     that are among the most advanced in the world in terms of 
     performance in solving scientific and engineering problems, 
     and including support for advanced software and applications 
     development, for all science and engineering disciplines; and
       ``(3) support basic research and education in all aspects 
     of high-performance computing and networking.'';
       (2) by amending subsection (a) of section 202 to read as 
     follows:
       ``(a) General Responsibilities.--As part of the Program 
     described in title I, the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration shall conduct basic and applied research in 
     high-performance computing and networking, with emphasis on--
       ``(1) computational fluid dynamics, computational thermal 
     dynamics, and computational aerodynamics;
       ``(2) scientific data dissemination and tools to enable 
     data to be fully analyzed and combined from multiple sources 
     and sensors;
       ``(3) remote exploration and experimentation; and
       ``(4) tools for collaboration in system design, analysis, 
     and testing.'';
       (3) in section 203--
       (A) by striking subsections (a) through (d) and inserting 
     the following:
       ``(a) General Responsibilities.--As part of the Program 
     described in title I, the Secretary of Energy shall--
       ``(1) conduct and support basic and applied research in 
     high-performance computing and networking to support 
     fundamental research in science and engineering disciplines 
     related to energy applications; and
       ``(2) provide computing and networking infrastructure 
     support, including the provision of high-performance 
     computing systems that are among the most advanced in the 
     world in terms of performance in solving scientific and 
     engineering problems, and including support for advanced 
     software and applications development, for science and 
     engineering disciplines related to energy applications.''; 
     and
       (B) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (b);
       (4) by amending subsection (a) of section 204 to read as 
     follows:
       ``(a) General Responsibilities.--As part of the Program 
     described in title I--
       ``(1) the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
     shall--
       ``(A) conduct basic and applied metrology research needed 
     to support high-performance computing and networking systems;
       ``(B) develop benchmark tests and standards for high-
     performance computing and networking systems and software;
       ``(C) develop and propose voluntary standards and 
     guidelines, and develop measurement techniques and test 
     methods, for the interoperability of high-performance 
     computing systems in networks and for common user interfaces 
     to high-performance computing and networking systems; and
       ``(D) work with industry and others to develop, and 
     facilitate the implementation of, high-performance computing 
     applications to solve science and engineering problems that 
     are relevant to industry; and
       ``(2) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
     shall conduct basic and applied research on high-performance 
     computing applications, with emphasis on--
       ``(A) improving weather forecasting and climate prediction;
       ``(B) collection, analysis, and dissemination of 
     environmental information; and
       ``(C) development of more accurate models of the ocean-
     atmosphere system.''; and
       (5) by amending subsection (a) of section 205 to read as 
     follows:
       ``(a) General Responsibilities.--As part of the Program 
     described in title I, the Environmental Protection Agency 
     shall conduct basic and applied research directed toward 
     advancement and dissemination of computational techniques and 
     software tools for high-performance computing systems with an 
     emphasis on modeling to--
       ``(1) develop robust decision support tools;
       ``(2) predict pollutant transport and the effects of 
     pollutants on humans and on ecosystems; and
       ``(3) better understand atmospheric dynamics and 
     chemistry.''.

     SEC. 5. SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

       In carrying out its programs on the social, economic, 
     legal, ethical, and cultural implications of information 
     technology, the National Science Foundation shall support 
     research into the implications of computers (including both 
     hardware and software) that would be capable of mimicking 
     human abilities to learn, reason, and make decisions.

[[Page 14587]]



     SEC. 6. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

       (a) Amendments.--Section 23 of the National Science 
     Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n-9) is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking ``and the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration'' each place it appears in subsections (a) and 
     (b) and inserting ``, the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration, and the Department of Energy'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting ``the Secretary of 
     Energy,'' after ``the Administrator of the National 
     Aeronautics and Space Administration,'';
       (3) in subsection (c)--
       (A) by striking ``5'' in each of paragraphs (1) and (2) and 
     inserting ``4'';
       (B) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (2);
       (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4), and in 
     that paragraph by striking ``3'' and inserting ``2''; and
       (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 
     paragraph:
       ``(3) 3 members selected by the Secretary of Energy; and''; 
     and
       (4) in subsection (f), by striking ``the advisory bodies of 
     other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy, 
     which may engage in related research activities'' and 
     inserting ``other Federal advisory committees that advise 
     Federal agencies which engage in related research 
     activities''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall take effect on March 15, 2005.

     SEC. 7. REMOVAL OF SUNSET PROVISION FROM SAVINGS IN 
                   CONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1996.

       Section 14(e) of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 
     U.S.C. 205l(e)) is repealed.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).


                             General Leave

  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4218, as amended, the 
bill now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, when we think of how computers affect our lives, we 
probably think of the work we do on our office desktop machines or 
maybe the Internet surfing we do in our spare time. We do not normally 
think of the enormous contribution that supercomputers, also called 
high-performance computers, make to the world around us.
  These powerful machines are used in the development of 
pharmaceuticals, in modeling the Earth's climate, and in applications 
critical to ensuring our national and homeland security. They also help 
ensure our economic competitiveness. In a recent Subcommittee on Energy 
hearing, we heard how supercomputers can help companies anticipate how 
new products will behave in different environments using simulations 
that are called ``virtual prototyping.'' These approaches help 
companies increase the speed to market for new products.
  High-performance computers also are central to maintaining U.S. 
leadership in many scientific fields. Computational science complements 
theory and experimentation in fields such as plasma physics and fusion, 
astrophysics, nuclear physics, and genomics.
  The top computer in the world today, the Earth Simulator, is not in 
the United States. It is in Japan. Some experts claim that Japan was 
able to produce the Earth Simulator, a computer far ahead of American 
machines, because the U.S. had taken an overly cautious and 
conventional approach to computing R&D.
  Beginning in the 1990s, the U.S. focused on a single architecture for 
high-performance computing and emphasized the use of commercially 
available components over custom-made components. In hindsight, we see 
that this approach has meant lost opportunities. Japan's Earth 
Simulator is an example of a road not taken.
  The U.S. is still a leader in supercomputing. In fact, 10 of the top 
20 most powerful computers in the world today are in the United States. 
Even so, the Earth Simulator is nearly three times as fast as the most 
powerful computer in the United States, the ASCI-Q computer at Los 
Alamos National Laboratory.
  The bill we are considering today on the floor, H.R. 4218, will 
ensure that America remains a leader in the development and use of 
supercomputers.
  To achieve this aim, the bill does four things.
  First, it requires that Federal agencies provide the U.S. research 
community access to the most advanced high-performance computing 
systems and technical support for their users.
  Second, there is more to supercomputing than building big machines. 
That is why the bill requires Federal agencies to support all aspects 
of high-performance computing for scientific and engineering 
applications.
  Third, the bill requires the White House Office of Science and 
Technology Policy to direct an interagency planning process to develop 
and maintain a research, development and deployment roadmap for the 
provision of high-performance computing resources for the U.S. research 
community.
  The original legislation that the bill amends, the High-Performance 
Computing Act of 1991, gave rise to an interagency planning process 
that has lost the vitality it once had. This provision will help ensure 
a robust planning process so that our national high-performance 
computing effort is not allowed to lag in the future.
  Finally, the bill clarifies the missions of each of the Federal 
agencies that have a role in developing or using high-performance 
computing.
  Mr. Speaker, at a full committee hearing on May 13, Dr. John 
Marburger of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 
communicated the administration's support for this bill. The bill is 
consistent with a report written by the High End Computing 
Revitalization Task Force and released by OSTP on the day of the 
hearing.
  Mr. Marburger and the Bush administration recognize that we cannot 
imagine the kinds of problems that these supercomputers of tomorrow 
will be able to resolve, but we can imagine the kind of problems we 
will have if we fail to provide researchers in the United States with 
the computing resources they need to remain world class.
  This bill will guide Federal agencies and provide a needed support to 
high-performance computing and its user communities. Our Nation's 
scientific enterprise, and our economy, will be stronger for it. I urge 
my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I would like to encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 
4218, the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, which 
the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) and I have introduced. I 
also want to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) for her 
work in developing this legislation.
  H.R. 4218 amends the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, which 
established a major Federal research and development program in 
computing and networking that now involves seven agencies and is funded 
at about $2 billion per year. This bill seeks to reverse a gradual 
weakening of the planning mechanisms for the research and development 
program established by the 1991 act.
  High-performance computing and communications technology is key to 
the Nation's economic competitiveness and security, and it is important 
to prioritize and effectively coordinate activities among the 
performing agencies. This bill requires formal biennial reviews of the 
interagency program by the President's Information Technology Advisory 
Committee in order to provide outside advice for sharpening program 
priorities and improving program implementation.
  H.R. 4218 also attempts to focus more effort by the interagency 
program on high-end computing. The key requirement is for the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy to develop and maintain a roadmap for 
developing and deploying high-end systems necessary to ensure that the 
U.S. research community has sustained access to the

[[Page 14588]]

most capable computing systems. In addition, NSF is explicitly required 
to provide for access by researchers to such computing systems. These 
requirements are designed to ensure the research community has access 
to the most powerful computing systems in the world.
  Mr. Speaker, the interagency research program launched in 1991, as I 
have said, has largely been a great success. It has helped provide the 
computing and networking infrastructure required to support leading-
edge research and to drive technology information forward for the 
benefit of all of us and society at large.
  H.R. 4218 will serve to strengthen the research program and deserves 
swift, favorable passage. Again, I ask my colleagues for their support 
of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the distinguished chairman of 
the Committee on Science.
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding this 
time, and I want to rise in strong support of H.R. 4218. I want to 
particularly thank the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) for the 
leadership she has provided and to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Davis) in being her partner in this enterprise. This is an important 
measure, and I proudly rise to give my unqualified support for it.
  This measure flows from two simple, unarguable premises: The 
computing industry has become a fundamental building block of our 
entire economy, and computing has become an indispensable part of 
conducting research and development here at home.
  That means that it is incumbent on the Federal Government to ensure 
that it is doing everything possible to strengthen the long-term 
competitiveness of the computing industry and to ensure that our 
Nation's researchers have access to the best computers in the world.
  The bill is designed to accomplish those two goals by strengthening 
our existing interagency programs on high-performance computing. 
Frankly, in recent years, we have taken our eye off the ball a little 
bit; and as a result, the Japanese now have the fastest computer in the 
world. Not to worry, we are being challenged. They are breathing down 
our neck, but we are preparing to respond; and we have to reverse that 
trend. They have one machine; we have many machines. We are clearly 
number one in the world, and we are determined to maintain that 
position.
  The administration knows that, and led by Dr. Jack Marburger at the 
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the administration 
is increasing its focus on this area and issued a new report laying out 
how it plans to do so.

                              {time}  1045

  This legislation will give additional impetus to those efforts. The 
bill should ensure that Federal agencies coordinate their efforts both 
to fund R&D on computing hardware and software and to fund access to 
the best computers.
  I will never forget the testimony I heard some 20 years ago as a 
junior member of the Committee on Science, that is, before the 
government began its supercomputing initiative. That testimony came 
from Nobel Laureate Ken Wilson, who was then at Cornell. He said to us, 
and this was in the early 1980s, he said to us that he and his students 
had to go overseas to get the computing resources they needed. We were 
determined that that would never happen again, and therein was born the 
supercomputer initiative in America.
  In the 1990s, we all know this, in the 1990s we enjoyed unprecedented 
growth in our economy, for 10 years, quarter-after-quarter, year-after-
year growth in the economy, and more jobs being created. The 
Information Age was upon us. And because of what the government was 
doing, what we were investing in in supercomputing technology, that was 
largely made possible.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this urgently needed, 
carefully targeted bill that will make sure that the U.S. builds and 
American scientists can use the best computers in the world. These 
days, that is a necessary condition for the long-term success of our 
economy, and we are determined to guarantee the long-term success of 
our economy.
  So to the chairwoman, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), 
and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), I commend you both for 
the outstanding cooperation that was evidenced in developing this 
measure. I particularly want to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois 
(Mrs. Biggert) for the leadership she has provided. Time after time she 
has proven that she is there with a solution to the problem. We do not 
have a problem that we cannot tackle and overcome, and she has proven 
it once again.
  So I urge my colleagues to register their strong support for H.R. 
4218.
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Research of 
the House Committee on Science.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, it should concern everyone who 
has followed technological developments, especially in recent years, to 
see the United States is falling behind. It has been said a couple of 
times that Japan's Earth Simulator Computer is now faster and more 
efficient than anything in the United States.
  I congratulate the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) for her 
initiative in sponsoring and moving this legislation through the 
legislative process. Let it be said that everyone agrees that over the 
last 30 years invention and innovation have been among the greatest 
driving forces behind the tremendous technological advances that we 
have had and the ability of the United States to develop high-quality 
products and the way to produce those products that can be competitive 
in a world market.
  I think at the forefront of our innovation has been the development 
of these supercomputers. They have allowed us to make new discoveries, 
design new technologies, and develop new products more quickly and at 
much lower cost than we would have thought imaginable even 10 years 
ago.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Research for the last several 
years, I have been proud to support our Nation's efforts in these and 
other important scientific endeavors, and I have been especially 
interested and strongly supportive of continuous investment, financial 
and otherwise, of all stages of our tech advancement, from the initial 
investigation of new concepts down to technology demonstrations and 
products.
  What has also been made clear in recent years is that government 
alone cannot and probably should not be the sole contributor to 
America's scientific endeavors. Continuous investment is needed in all 
contributing sectors of society, certainly from universities to 
national laboratories to private sector corporations to vendors. That 
falls back on a goal that we must also have in this country, and that 
is capable scientists that are going to make invention and innovation 
happen.
  I would just like to bring to my colleagues' attention what a high-
tech supercomputer is. According to an April 2003 report, IBM is now 
looking to develop, in conjunction with Lawrence Berkeley National 
Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory, a system that will 
perform at twice the level of the Earth Simulator, hopefully by 2005.
  In addition, the Department of Energy has contracted with IBM to 
develop two systems, the ASCI Purple and Blue Gene program that 
together, listen to this, will be able to perform 460 trillion 
calculations per second. The Earth Simulator's peak capacity is 40 
trillion operations per second. So we are moving ahead, and this 
legislation is going to help assure that we move ahead, that the United 
States stay in control.
  This is important legislation that will not only help our Nation 
remain

[[Page 14589]]

competitive with countries such as Japan, but will help the United 
States to maintain its leadership in tech advancement. So, again, I 
thank our Committee on Science chairman and ranking member, and I thank 
the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), who is a member of the Subcommittee on Energy and 
Water Development of the Committee on Appropriations, and has been a 
great help to the scientific community, the Department of Energy, and 
all its programs, and especially the Office of Science. So we 
appreciate all his hard work on behalf of them.
  Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the gentlewoman's 
leadership. I do come as an appropriator today to say thanks to the 
authorization committee, and thanks to the chairman of the Committee on 
Science, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert); the Chair of the 
subcommittee, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert); the ranking 
members, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) and the gentleman 
from Tennessee (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud that Tennesseeans stand together in a 
bipartisan way today. Of course, I represent the Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Oak Ridge is a lead laboratory 
for high-speed computing. So I come with great excitement today because 
our Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the Committee on 
Appropriations has actually gone beyond what we were authorized to do 
or what the administration asked for on supercomputing, because our 
chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson), believes, as we 
believe, that this is the seed corn for the future; that we must make 
these investments if we are to have a robust economy and a very high 
quality of life and experience the growth that this country deserves 
and, frankly, we should expect. And it comes with scientific 
investment.
  Basic research, for years, through the physical sciences, led to the 
breakthroughs that we enjoy today. Space had a lot to do with it. And 
then the life sciences of the last 15 years, as we tried to get our 
arms around diabetes and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's; and so we 
invested heavily in life sciences. But there is a whole new field that 
is part of the physical science arena called high-speed computing, 
computer simulation and modeling. We are going to be able to do things 
with computers that we will not even need a laboratory for, because we 
can simulate with the use of high-speed computing. It is a whole new 
field.
  I will tell my colleagues that as we invest in it, our economy will 
grow and the budget will come closer to balance because we are making 
these investments. We are not going to balance the budget in the world 
we live in today by cutting spending, because there are too many needs. 
But if we grow the economy with these kinds of investments, we can 
balance the budget.
  This is critical. The authorizers have stepped up. This is real good 
for America. It is great for our laboratory systems. And I want to give 
a lot of credit, while I have the floor, to the DOE Office of Science, 
because this administration is way out in front on these investments.
  This is the right thing to do. This is where the Congress comes 
together in the very best way to make investments not for next year 
necessarily, but for the next generation. They will reap a high return.
  So congratulations to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert). I 
thank her for her leadership in all science investment for our country. 
She is helping us on the Committee on Appropriations expand the fence 
so we can fund these necessary investments. Without the authorization, 
without the statutory framework that the gentlewoman is establishing 
today, and the many other times that she has brought quality 
legislation to this floor, we cannot fund it. With this, we can fund it 
and then some.
  So I thank all involved very much.
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume to applaud the efforts of the chairman, the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Boehlert); the subcommittee chairman, the gentlewoman 
from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert); certainly the gentleman from Tennessee 
(Mr. Gordon), the ranking member on the Committee on Science, for their 
work and effort in being sure this legislation came to the committee 
and then was presented today.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
and, in closing, I want to recognize the bill's chief lead sponsor 
along with me, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), and thank the 
other cosponsors of this important legislation, including the 
distinguished chairman of the Committee on Science, the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Boehlert), along with the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Gordon), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Johnson), the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), 
and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith). I would thank them all for 
their support. And I would also have to thank the Committee on Science 
staff, the majority and the minority, for their hard work.
  I also would like to thank the chairman, the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Boehlert) for holding a full Committee on Science hearing this 
past May to consider this legislation. At this very successful hearing, 
the committee received very positive feedback on the bill from the 
experts on high-performance computing. That is also the hearing where 
Dr. Marburger, Director of the White House Office of Science and 
Technology Policy, communicated the administration's support for the 
bill.
  As I said earlier, we must commit to providing sustained support for 
high-performance computers at our Federal civilian science agencies. 
Our Nation's scientific enterprise and our economy will be the stronger 
for that.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to particularly emphasize the 
importance of high-performance computing in the area of fusion energy 
science, an area where I have personal experience from my work at the 
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Fusion offers the promise of 
abundant, safe, environmentally attractive energy for the U.S. and the 
world. The advances in computing over the last decade have 
revolutionized fusion science at Princeton and elsewhere. Previously 
scientists made calculations without computers for simplified 
situations; now they can take into account the details of real 
experimental conditions.
  Previously scientists could only make crude estimates of how for 
example turbulence in fusion fuel could cool the plasma lower than the 
very high temperatures needed for fusion; now they can calculate this 
process in detail. As a result the agreement between experiment and 
theory has improved dramatically.
  A decade or so ago, theoretical estimates could easily differ from 
experimental measurements by factors of 10 to 100, giving rise to 
heated scientific debate. How the debate is just as scientific and just 
as heated, but the argument is about factors like 1.5 or 2--a dramatic 
difference.
  Furthermore, this scientific understanding has led to techniques to 
quell the turbulent mixing and allow the fusion fuel to get much 
hotter, producing more fusion energy High-performance computing 
together with advanced experimental techniques, has truly 
revolutionized fusion energy science.
  Even with these recent advances, there is still much more to be 
learned about fusion systems through high-performance computing, and 
H.R. 4218 will help to make that possible. Fusion scientists need to 
combine all of the individual calculations of physical effects, which 
have been combined into an integrated simulation model that handles all 
of the different aspects of a fusion system--all at the same time. Such 
a model will allow fusion researchers to predict in detail the behavior 
of complete fusion systems and will allow them to design the cost-
effective power plans that will be need in the future.
  This is truly a grand challenge that requires the level of high 
performance computing envisioned in H.R. 4218. It is also a grand 
challenge for humanity. Recent events have certainly reminded us that 
we need the abundant, safe and clean power that fusion can provide. 
Thus I strongly support H.R. 4218 for the advances it will produce in 
fusion energy

[[Page 14590]]

science, as well as elsewhere in American science.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Murphy). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4218, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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