Text of Senate Amendment 6088

Quick facts

Record: Senate Floor
Section type: Amendments
Chamber: Senate
Date: June 24, 2026
Congress: 119th Congress
Why this source matters: This section came from the Senate floor portion of the record.

Linked context

People mentioned: Fetterman, John
Committees: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Readable version of the official text

SA 6088. Mr. FETTERMAN (for himself and Mr. Budd) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of title G, add the following:

Subtitle H—National Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

This subtitle may be cited as the “National Programmable

Cloud Laboratories Network Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

(a) Definitions.—In this subtitle:

(1) Artificial intelligence.—The term “artificial

intelligence” has the meaning given such term in section

5002 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 9401).

(2) Biological data.—The term “biological data” means

the information, including associated descriptors, derived

from the structure, function, or process of a biological

system that is either measured, collected, or aggregated for

analysis.

(3) Director.—Unless otherwise provided, the term

“Director” means the Director of the National Science

Foundation.

(4) Institution of higher education.—The term

“institution of higher education” has the meaning given the

term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20

U.S.C. 1001).

(5) Network.—The term “Network” means the National

Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network.

(6) Node.—The term “node” means a programmable cloud

laboratory designated as part of the Network.

(7) Non-designated laboratory.—The term “non-designated

laboratory” means any Federal, academic, nonprofit, or

private industry programmable cloud laboratory not selected

as a node under section 4.

(8) Programmable cloud laboratory.—The term “programmable

cloud laboratory”

means a physical laboratory that is equipped with research

instrumentation and advanced manufacturing capabilities,

including robotics and artificial intelligence, that can be

securely and remotely programmed and controlled in order to

conduct experiments and collect associated data.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

(a) Authorization of Appropriations.—There are authorized

to be appropriated to carry out the activities under this

subtitle—

(1) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2026;

(2) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2027;

(3) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2028;

(4) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2029; and

(5) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2030.

(b) Derivation of Funds.—Amounts made available to carry

out this subtitle shall be derived from amounts appropriated

or otherwise made available to the National Science

Foundation.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL PROGRAMMABLE CLOUD LABORATORIES NETWORK.

(a) Purposes.—The purposes of the Network established

under this subtitle are—

(1) to maintain leadership by the United States in advanced

experimentation, biotechnology, laboratory automation, and

artificial intelligence for scientific research, advanced

manufacturing, long-term economic competitiveness, and

national security;

(2) to reduce the cost of federally funded research through

automation and reproducibility;

(3) to accelerate national competitiveness by transferring

government-funded research to private-sector commercial

applications;

(4) to improve collaboration among federally funded

national laboratories, institutions of higher education, and

private industry;

(5) to ensure that investment in programmable cloud

laboratories results in measurable cost savings,

efficiencies, and long-term fiscal sustainability;

(6) to incentivize private-sector cost-sharing in research

infrastructure and equipment;

(7) to support workforce development aligned with the

technical needs of industry in the United States;

(8) to provide funding for nodes;

(9) to advance the development of a domestic industrial

base for scientific automation tools, biotechnology,

artificial intelligence systems for experimentation, and

robotics platforms for use in laboratory settings; and

(10) to further programmable cloud laboratory research in

areas such as materials science, biotechnology, chemistry,

and other scientific or engineering disciplines where

automation and cloud-enabled experimentation can deliver

transformative results, including advanced materials

synthesis and characterization, scalable biotechnology

experimentation, and high-throughput chemical catalyst

development.

(b) Establishment; Awards.—

(1) In general.—

(A) Establishment.—Not later than 1 year after the date of

enactment of this subtitle, the Director, in consultation

with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and

Technology, shall designate and oversee a National

Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network of not more than 6

nodes to support secure, standards-based, and cost-effective

remote experimentation and automated research.

(B) Awards.—The Director shall award a grant to each node,

in an amount not greater than $5,000,000 per fiscal year for

a period of not more than 5 years, to support the National

Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network.

(2) Assessment sequencing.—The assessment required under

section 6 shall be conducted only after the final

designation of nodes under paragraph (1).

(3) Nodes.—The Network shall consist of nodes that—

(A) enable programmable workflows and automated science;

(B) provide access to advanced scientific and manufacturing

instruments, including artificial intelligence-enabled tools;

protocols, and best practices; and

(D) support interoperability across and between nodes.

(1) In general.—The Director shall issue a public

solicitation for eligible entities to apply for node

designation.

(2) Eligible entities.—Eligible entities that may apply

for designation as a node include—

(A) institutions of higher education;

(B) nonprofit research organizations;

(D) consortia or collaborations of the entities described

in subparagraphs (A) through (C).

(d) Applications for Designation.—An eligible entity that

desires to apply for designation as a node in the Network

shall submit an application to the Director at such time and

in such manner as the Director may require. The application

shall include—

(1) a technical and programmatic plan for laboratory

operations, automation capabilities, and data integration;

(2) a plan to achieve long-term self-sustainability,

including metrics, interim milestones, and a timeline for

reducing reliance on Federal funding; and

(3) evidence of non-Federal cost share, private capital, or

other third-party contributions demonstrating self-

sustainability potential.

(e) Evaluation of Applicants.—The Director shall ensure

that the process for selecting eligible entities for

designation in the Network is competitive, merit-based, and

transparent, through the evaluation of, with respect to each

entity—

(1) pre-existing laboratory infrastructure and suitability

for automated science;

(2) capacity to support distributed, cloud-enabled

programmable workflows for multiple users;

(3) likelihood of achieving long-term sustainability

without continued Federal funding;

(4) demonstrated ability to collaborate with other nodes,

academic partners, industry partners, or other Federal

research agencies (as defined in section 10002 of the

Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42

U.S.C. 18901));

(5) protocols for research security, cybersecurity, and

responsible access; and

(6) demonstration of user interest and research needs.

(f) Designation.—In designating nodes, the Director

shall—

(1) give preference to applicants demonstrating meaningful

third-party cost share and pre-existing infrastructure; and

(2) to the extent practicable, ensure that at least 1 node

demonstrates the capability to support cloud-enabled

biotechnology research, including automated experimentation

or quality control workflows.

(g) Responsibilities.—Each node selected by the Director

shall—

(1) support the purposes described in subsection (a)(9);

(2) facilitate collaboration among Network members to

expand and integrate automated science capabilities and best

practices;

(3) actively participate with the Director of the National

Institute of Standards and Technology in developing network-

wide interoperability, data-sharing, cybersecurity, and

artificial intelligence-assisted experimentation standards;

(4) support secure sharing of experimental data, including

biological data, models, and results across institutions of

higher education participating in the Network, if applicable;

(5) provide a secure digital infrastructure to enable

remote experimentation, artificial intelligence-assisted

analysis, and reproducible science;

(6) engage in public-private partnerships to streamline the

transfer of technology developed using Network

infrastructure;

(7) develop and maintain a financial sustainability plan to

reduce long-term reliance on Federal funds, including through

user fees, licensing, consortia membership, or other revenue-

generating models;

(8) establish performance metrics, including scientific

output, cost-effectiveness, academic engagement, private-

sector engagement, user satisfaction, and reproducibility of

results; and

(9) where practicable, leverage commercially available

hardware and software solutions to minimize cost and

accelerate deployment of automated science capabilities.

SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION.

Not later than 180 days after all nodes of the Network are

designated, the Director of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology, in cooperation with the Director

and participating eligible entities (including institutions

of higher education), shall—

(1) develop and promulgate standards to ensure

interoperability across Network nodes, including laboratory

instrumentation, data infrastructure, communication

protocols, and experiment execution systems;

(2) establish protocols for secure, seamless, and

standardized data-sharing among all members of the Network,

including sharing of biological data, aligned with node-level

cybersecurity and research security protocols;

(3) define minimum technical requirements and operating

procedures to support remote experimentation, experiment

reproducibility, and artificial intelligence-assisted

workflows; and

(4) periodically update such standards in consultation with

private sector partners and nodes of the Network to reflect

advancements in hardware, software, and automation

technology.

SEC. 6. ASSESSMENT OF NON-DESIGNATED LABORATORIES.

(a) Assessment Requirement.—Not later than 180 days after

the Director designates the final node of the Network under

section 4, the Director, in consultation with the

Secretary of Energy and the Director of the National

Institute of Standards and Technology, shall conduct and

submit to the appropriate committees of Congress, a

comprehensive assessment of non-designated laboratories.

(b) Scope.—The assessment shall identify, to the extent

practicable—

(1) Federal laboratories, institutions of higher education,

nonprofit organizations, and private-sector laboratories that

possess or are developing programmable, automated, or

remotely accessible research infrastructure;

(2) the instrumentation, automation, and data capabilities

of such laboratories;

(3) cybersecurity and research security measures relevant

to interoperability;

(4) existing or potential pathways for such laboratories to

coordinate with Network nodes in areas such as data-sharing,

standards adoption, or pilot interoperability projects; and

(5) legal, contractual, or intellectual property

considerations that may affect participation in the Network.

shall be protected from public disclosure consistent with

applicable law. The Director shall publish a nonproprietary

public summary of the assessment and may submit a proprietary

annex to the congressional committees of jurisdiction.

SEC. 7. REPORTING AND OVERSIGHT.

(a) Annual Briefings.—Not later than 1 year after the date

of enactment of this subtitle, and annually thereafter, the

Director shall brief the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science,

Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives on the

status of the Network.

(b) Contents.—Each briefing required under subsection (a)

shall include an assessment of—

(1) the alignment of supported research with national

scientific and economic priorities;

(2) the progress each node of the Network has made toward

achieving self-sustainability as described in section

4(d)(2); and

(3) the performance metrics established in section

4(g)(8).

SEC. 8. SUNSET.

The National Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network,

including all authorities, programs, and funding provided

under this subtitle, shall terminate on September 30, 2031.

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