II 

Calendar No. 172 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 143 

[Report No. 116–70] 

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, Mr. HEINRICH, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

AUGUST 16, 2019 

Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of August 1, 2019, by 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Veterans’ Health Initiative Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

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

7 means the Department of Energy. 

8 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na9 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term 

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

11 U.S.C. 15801). 

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

13 the Secretary of Energy. 

14 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

15 The purposes of this Act are to advance Department 

16 of Energy expertise in artificial intelligence and high-per17 formance computing in order to improve health outcomes 

18 for veteran populations by— 

19 (1) supporting basic research through the appli20 cation of artificial intelligence, high-performance 

21 computing, modeling and simulation, machine learn22 ing, and large scale data analytics to identify and 

23 solve outcome-defined challenges in the health 

24 sciences; 

25 (2) maximizing the impact of the Department 

26 of Veterans Affairs’ health and genomics data 


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1 housed at the National Laboratories, as well as data 

2 from other sources, on science, innovation, and 

3 health care outcomes through the use and advance4 ment of artificial intelligence and high-performance 

5 computing capabilities of the Department of Energy; 

6 (3) promoting collaborative research through 

7 the establishment of partnerships to improve data 

8 sharing between Federal agencies, National Labora9 tories, institutions of higher education, and non10 profit institutions; 

11 (4) establishing multiple scientific computing 

12 user facilities to house and provision available data 

13 to foster transformational outcomes; and 

14 (5) driving the development of technology to im15 prove artificial intelligence, high-performance com16 puting, and networking relevant to mission applica17 tions of the Department of Energy, including mod18 eling, simulation, machine learning, and advanced 

19 data analytics. 

20 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS HEALTH RE21 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

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

23 carry out a research program in artificial intelligence and 

24 high-performance computing, focused on the development 

25 of tools to solve big data challenges associated with vetVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143

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1 eran’s healthcare, and to support the efforts of the De2 partment of Veterans Affairs to identify potential health 

3 risks and challenges utilizing data on long-term health4 care, health risks, and genomic data collected from veteran 

5 populations. The Secretary shall carry out this program 

6 through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and con7 sider applications from National Laboratories, institutions 

8 of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, and 

9 other appropriate entities. 

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

11 program established under subsection (a), the Secretary 

12 may— 

13 (1) conduct basic research in modeling and sim14 ulation, machine learning, large scale data analytics, 

15 and predictive analysis in order to develop novel or 

16 optimized algorithms for prediction of disease treat17 ment and recovery; 

18 (2) develop methods to accommodate large data 

19 sets with variable quality and scale, and to provide 

20 insight and models for complex systems; 

21 (3) develop new approaches and maximize the 

22 use of algorithms developed through artificial intel23 ligence, machine learning, data analytics, natural 

24 language processing, modeling and simulation, and 

25 develop new algorithms suitable for high-performVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143

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1 ance computing systems and large biomedical data 

2 sets; 

3 (4) advance existing and construct new data en4 claves capable of securely storing data sets provided 

5 by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department 

6 of Defense, and other sources; and 

7 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be8 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 

9 user facilities of the Department by providing the 

10 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili11 ties. 

12 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program re13 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary is authorized 

14 to— 

15 (1) enter into memoranda of understanding in 

16 order to carry out reimbursable agreements with the 

17 Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities in 

18 order to maximize the effectiveness of Department 

19 of Energy research and development to improve vet20 erans’ healthcare; 

21 (2) consult with the Department of Veterans 

22 Affairs and other Federal agencies as appropriate; 

23 and 

24 (3) ensure that data storage meets all privacy 

25 and security requirements established by the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143

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1 ment of Veterans Affairs, and that access to data is 

2 provided in accordance with relevant Department of 

3 Veterans Affairs data access policies, including in4 formed consent. 

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

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

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

8 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep9 resentatives, and the Committee on Energy and Natural 

10 Resources and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

11 Senate, a report detailing the effectiveness of— 

12 (1) the interagency coordination between each 

13 Federal agency involved in the research program 

14 carried out under this section; 

15 (2) collaborative research achievements of the 

16 program; and 

17 (3) potential opportunities to expand the tech18 nical capabilities of the Department. 

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

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

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

22 to the availability of appropriations. 


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

2 COMPUTATIONAL RESEARCH PILOT PRO3 GRAM. 

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

5 pilot program to develop tools for big data analytics by 

6 utilizing data sets generated by Federal agencies, institu7 tions of higher education, nonprofit research organiza8 tions, and industry in order to advance artificial intel9 ligence technologies to solve complex, big data challenges. 

10 The Secretary shall carry out this program through a com11 petitive, merit-reviewed process, and consider applications 

12 from National Laboratories, institutions of higher edu13 cation, multi-institutional collaborations, and other appro14 priate entities. 

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

16 pilot program established under subsection (a), the Sec17 retary may— 

18 (1) establish a cross-cutting research initiative 

19 to prevent duplication and coordinate research ef20 forts in artificial intelligence and data analytics 

21 across the Department; 

22 (2) conduct basic research in modeling and sim23 ulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, 

24 large scale data analytics, natural language proc25 essing, and predictive analysis in order to develop 

26 novel or optimized predictive algorithms suitable for 


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1 high-performance computing systems and large bio2 medical data sets; 

3 (3) develop multivariate optimization models to 

4 accommodate large data sets with variable quality 

5 and scale in order to visualize complex systems; 

6 (4) establish multiple scientific computing user 

7 facilities to serve as data enclaves capable of se8 curely storing data sets created by Federal agencies, 

9 institutions of higher education, nonprofit organiza10 tions, or industry at National Laboratories; and 

11 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be12 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 

13 user facilities of the Department by providing the 

14 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili15 ties. 

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

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

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

19 the House of Representatives and the Committee on En20 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report evalu21 ating the effectiveness of the pilot program under sub22 section (a), including basic research discoveries achieved 

23 in the course of the program and potential opportunities 

24 to expand the technical capabilities of the Department 


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1 through the development of artificial intelligence and data 

2 analytics technologies. 

3 (d) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Energy shall allo4 cate up to $26,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 and 

5 2020 to carry out this section, subject to the availability 

6 of appropriations. 


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Calendar No. 172 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 143 

[Report No. 116–70] 

A BILL 

To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct 

for other purposes. services for veterans in the United States, and Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare collaborative research with the Department of 

AUGUST 16, 2019 

Reported without amendment 


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