II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 143 

To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research 

with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare 

services for veterans in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2019 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. 

KING, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research with the Department of Veterans Affairs 

in order to improve healthcare services for veterans in 

the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy 

5 Veterans’ Health Initiative Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

2 means the Department of Energy. 

3 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na4 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term 

5 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

6 U.S.C. 15801). 

7 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Energy. 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

10 The purposes of this Act are to advance Department 

11 of Energy expertise in artificial intelligence and high-per12 formance computing in order to improve health outcomes 

13 for veteran populations by— 

14 (1) supporting basic research through the appli15 cation of artificial intelligence, high-performance 

16 computing, modeling and simulation, machine learn17 ing, and large scale data analytics to identify and 

18 solve outcome-defined challenges in the health 

19 sciences; 

20 (2) maximizing the impact of the Department 

21 of Veterans Affairs’ health and genomics data 

22 housed at the National Laboratories, as well as data 

23 from other sources, on science, innovation, and 

24 health care outcomes through the use and advanceVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.IS S143

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1 ment of artificial intelligence and high-performance 

2 computing capabilities of the Department of Energy; 

3 (3) promoting collaborative research through 

4 the establishment of partnerships to improve data 

5 sharing between Federal agencies, National Labora6 tories, institutions of higher education, and non7 profit institutions; 

8 (4) establishing multiple scientific computing 

9 user facilities to house and provision available data 

10 to foster transformational outcomes; and 

11 (5) driving the development of technology to im12 prove artificial intelligence, high-performance com13 puting, and networking relevant to mission applica14 tions of the Department of Energy, including mod15 eling, simulation, machine learning, and advanced 

16 data analytics. 

17 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS HEALTH RE18 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 

20 carry out a research program in artificial intelligence and 

21 high-performance computing, focused on the development 

22 of tools to solve big data challenges associated with vet23 eran’s healthcare, and to support the efforts of the De24 partment of Veterans Affairs to identify potential health 

25 risks and challenges utilizing data on long-term healthVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Jan 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.IS S143

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1 care, health risks, and genomic data collected from veteran 

2 populations. The Secretary shall carry out this program 

3 through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and con4 sider applications from National Laboratories, institutions 

5 of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, and 

6 other appropriate entities. 

7 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 

8 program established under subsection (a), the Secretary 

9 may— 

10 (1) conduct basic research in modeling and sim11 ulation, machine learning, large scale data analytics, 

12 and predictive analysis in order to develop novel or 

13 optimized algorithms for prediction of disease treat14 ment and recovery; 

15 (2) develop methods to accommodate large data 

16 sets with variable quality and scale, and to provide 

17 insight and models for complex systems; 

18 (3) develop new approaches and maximize the 

19 use of algorithms developed through artificial intel20 ligence, machine learning, data analytics, natural 

21 language processing, modeling and simulation, and 

22 develop new algorithms suitable for high-perform23 ance computing systems and large biomedical data 

24 sets; 


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1 (4) advance existing and construct new data en2 claves capable of securely storing data sets provided 

3 by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department 

4 of Defense, and other sources; and 

5 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be6 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 

7 user facilities of the Department by providing the 

8 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili9 ties. 

10 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program re11 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary is authorized 

12 to— 

13 (1) enter into memoranda of understanding in 

14 order to carry out reimbursable agreements with the 

15 Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities in 

16 order to maximize the effectiveness of Department 

17 of Energy research and development to improve vet18 erans’ healthcare; 

19 (2) consult with the Department of Veterans 

20 Affairs and other Federal agencies as appropriate; 

21 and 

22 (3) ensure that data storage meets all privacy 

23 and security requirements established by the Depart24 ment of Veterans Affairs, and that access to data is 

25 provided in accordance with relevant Department of 


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1 Veterans Affairs data access policies, including in2 formed consent. 

3 (d) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

5 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and 

6 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep7 resentatives, and the Committee on Energy and Natural 

8 Resources and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

9 Senate, a report detailing the effectiveness of— 

10 (1) the interagency coordination between each 

11 Federal agency involved in the research program 

12 carried out under this section; 

13 (2) collaborative research achievements of the 

14 program; and 

15 (3) potential opportunities to expand the tech16 nical capabilities of the Department. 

17 (e) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

18 shall allocate up to $27,000,000 during the period of fiscal 

19 years 2019 through 2023 to carry out this section, subject 

20 to the availability of appropriations. 

21 SEC. 5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA ANALYTICS, AND 

22 COMPUTATIONAL RESEARCH PILOT PRO23 GRAM. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

25 pilot program to develop tools for big data analytics by 


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1 utilizing data sets generated by Federal agencies, institu2 tions of higher education, nonprofit research organiza3 tions, and industry in order to advance artificial intel4 ligence technologies to solve complex, big data challenges. 

5 The Secretary shall carry out this program through a com6 petitive, merit-reviewed process, and consider applications 

7 from National Laboratories, institutions of higher edu8 cation, multi-institutional collaborations, and other appro9 priate entities. 

10 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 

11 pilot program established under subsection (a), the Sec12 retary may— 

13 (1) establish a cross-cutting research initiative 

14 to prevent duplication and coordinate research ef15 forts in artificial intelligence and data analytics 

16 across the Department; 

17 (2) conduct basic research in modeling and sim18 ulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, 

19 large scale data analytics, natural language proc20 essing, and predictive analysis in order to develop 

21 novel or optimized predictive algorithms suitable for 

22 high-performance computing systems and large bio23 medical data sets; 


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1 (3) develop multivariate optimization models to 

2 accommodate large data sets with variable quality 

3 and scale in order to visualize complex systems; 

4 (4) establish multiple scientific computing user 

5 facilities to serve as data enclaves capable of se6 curely storing data sets created by Federal agencies, 

7 institutions of higher education, nonprofit organiza8 tions, or industry at National Laboratories; and 

9 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be10 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 

11 user facilities of the Department by providing the 

12 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili13 ties. 

14 (c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

16 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

17 the House of Representatives and the Committee on En18 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report evalu19 ating the effectiveness of the pilot program under sub20 section (a), including basic research discoveries achieved 

21 in the course of the program and potential opportunities 

22 to expand the technical capabilities of the Department 

23 through the development of artificial intelligence and data 

24 analytics technologies. 


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1 (d) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Energy shall allo2 cate up to $26,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 and 

3 2020 to carry out this section, subject to the availability 

4 of appropriations. 

Æ 


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