Text of Senate Amendment 6347

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: Van Hollen, Chris
Committees: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Readable version of the official text

SA 6347. Mr. VAN HOLLEN 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 appropriate place in title X, insert the following:

SEC. 10. NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK.

(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:

(1) Scientific discoveries and technical innovations are

critical to the economic and national security of the United

States.

(2) Maintaining the leadership of the United States in

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will

require a diverse population with the skills, interest, and

access to tools required to advance these fields.

(3) Just as earlier digital revolutions in communications

and computation provided individuals with the internet and

personal computers, a digital revolution in fabrication will

allow anyone to make almost anything, anywhere.

(4) These creations include elements of a typical household

basket of goods (furnishings, apparel, food production

equipment, shelter, transportation, education and

communication, recreation, and other goods and services),

personal technology, means for personal expression, the

production of digital fabrication machinery, community

design, and manufacturing capability.

(5) The Center for Bits and Atoms of the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology has contributed significantly to the

advancement of these goals through its work in creating and

advancing digital fabrication facilities, or “fab labs” in

the United States and abroad.

(6) Such digital fabrication facilities may include

MakerSpaces, Hackerspaces, and other creative spaces that use

digital fabrication as a platform for education, innovation,

entrepreneurship, personal expression, public access, and

social impact.

(7) Such digital fabrication facilities provide a model for

a new kind of national laboratory that operates as a network,

linking local facilities for advanced manufacturing,

providing universal access, cultivating new literacies, and

empowering communities.

(8) The nonprofit Fab Foundation was established to support

the growth of the international network of digital

fabrication facilities, to amplify the educational,

entrepreneurial, and social impacts of digital fabrication

facilities, and to support the development of regional

capacity building organizations to broaden impact as well as

address local, regional, and global challenges through the

use of digital fabrication technologies.

(9) A coordinated array of national public-private

partnerships will be the most effective way to accelerate the

provision of universal access to this infrastructure for

workforce development, science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics education, developing inventions, creating

businesses, producing personalized products, and mitigating

risks.

(b) Establishment.—There is hereby established a nonprofit

corporation to be known as the “National Fab Lab Network”

(in this section referred to as the “corporation”), which

shall not be an agency or establishment of the United States

Government. The corporation shall be subject to the

provisions of this section, and, to the extent consistent

with this section, to the District of Columbia Nonprofit

Corporation Act (D.C. Code, section 29-501 et seq.).

(1) Goals.—The goals of the corporation are as follows:

(A) To provide universal access to digital fabrication.

(B) To foster current and future fab labs.

labs to empower individuals and communities in the United

States.

(D) To foster the use of distributed digital fabrication

tools—

(i) to promote science, technology, engineering and math

skills;

(ii) to increase invention and innovation;

(iii) to create businesses and jobs;

(iv) to fulfill personal, professional, and community

needs;

(v) to create value and mitigate harm;

(vi) to increase self-sufficiency for individuals,

households, and communities; and

(vii) to align workforce development with new and emerging

jobs.

(E) To provide a platform for education and research, to

catalyze new methods in

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education,

and to introduce digital fabrication as an essential new

literacy.

(F) To create new ways of educating the workforce that will

enable workers to compete in a 21st century global

marketplace.

(2) Activities.—To attain the goals described in paragraph

(1), the corporation shall carry out activities, including

the following:

(A) Seek to establish a minimum of one fab lab in each

congressional district, prioritizing underserved communities.

(B) Seek to establish additional fab labs within the

network created under paragraph (1)(C), in response to local

demand, and provide guidelines for their sustainable

operation.

further expansion of fab labs across the United States.

(D) Serve as a resource to assist diverse public and

private stakeholders with the effective operation of fab labs

and the training of fab lab leaders and mentors.

(E) Maintain a national registry of fab labs.

(F) Provide standards and protocols for connecting fab labs

regionally, nationally, and globally.

(G) Assist existing fab labs in producing additional fab

labs.

(d) Membership and Organization.—Except as provided in

this section, eligibility for membership in the corporation

and the rights and privileges of members shall be in

accordance with the laws governing tax exempt organizations

in the District of Columbia.

(e) Governing Body.—

(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraph (2),

directors, officers, and other staff of the corporation, and

their powers and duties, shall be in accordance with the laws

governing tax exempt organizations in the District of

Columbia.

(2) Board membership.—

(A) Composition.—The board of the corporation shall be

composed of not fewer than 7 members and not more than 15

members.

(B) Representation.—

(i) In general.—The membership of the board of the

corporation shall collectively represent the diversity of fab

labs.

(ii) Requirement.—At a minimum, the board of the

corporation shall be composed of members from geographic

regions across the United States, Tribal communities,

educational and research institutions, libraries, nonprofit

and commercial organizations, diverse demographic groups, and

the Fab Foundation.

(iii) Individual representation.—An individual member of

the board of the corporation may represent more than one

board role and additional roles may be added to reflect the

diversity of the fab lab ecosystem.

be chosen, in consultation with representatives from the Fab

Foundation and in accordance with subparagraph (B)(i), as

follows:

(i) Two shall be appointed by the majority leader of the

Senate.

(ii) Two shall be appointed by the minority leader of the

Senate.

(iii) Two shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of

Representatives.

(iv) Two shall be appointed by the minority leader of the

House of Representatives.

(f) Powers.—The corporation may—

(1) coordinate the creation of a national network of local

fab labs in the United States;

(2) issue guidelines for the sustainable operation of fab

labs;

(3) issue standards and guidelines for fab labs;

(4) serve as a resource for organizations and communities

seeking to create fab labs by providing information,

assessing suitability, advising on the lab lifecycle, and

maintaining descriptions of prospective and operating sites;

(5) accept funds from private individuals, organizations,

government agencies, or other organizations;

(6) distribute funds to other organizations to establish

and operate fab labs as members of the corporation;

(7) facilitate communication between other organizations

seeking to join the corporation with operational entities

that can source and install fab labs, provide training,

assist with operations, account for spending, and assess

impact;

(8) communicate the benefits available through membership

in the corporation to communities and the public;

(9) facilitate and participate in synergistic programs,

including workforce training, job creation, researching the

enabling technology and broader impacts of such programs, and

the production of civic infrastructure;

(10) develop processes and methods to mitigate risks

associated with digital fabrication;

(11) develop and amend a constitution and bylaws for the

management of its property and the regulation of its affairs;

(12) choose directors, officers, trustees, managers,

employees, and agents as the activities of the corporation

require;

(13) make contracts;

(14) acquire, own, lease, encumber, and transfer property

as necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of the

corporation;

(15) borrow money, issue instruments of indebtedness, and

secure its obligations by granting security interests in its

property;

(16) charge and collect membership dues and subscription

fees; and

(17) sue and be sued.

(g) Exclusive Right to Name, Term, Seals, Emblems, and

Badges.—The corporation and its participating digital

fabrication labs have the exclusive right to use—

(1) the name “National Fab Lab Network”; and

(2) any seals, emblems, and badges the corporation adopts.

(h) Restrictions.—

(1) Stock and dividends.—The corporation may not issue

securities of any kind or declare or pay a dividend.

(2) Distribution of income or assets.—The income or assets

of the corporation may not inure to the benefit of, or be

distributed to, a director, officer, or member during the

life of the corporation under this section. This paragraph

does not prevent the payment of reasonable compensation to an

officer or reimbursement for actual necessary expenses in

amounts approved by the board of the corporation.

(3) Loans.—The corporation may not make a loan to a

director, officer, or employee.

(4) Claim of governmental approval or authority.—The

corporation may not claim congressional approval or the

authority of the United States Government for any of its

activities, but may recognize establishment of the

corporation pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.

(i) Records and Inspection.—

(1) Records.—The corporation shall keep—

(A) correct and complete records of account;

(B) minutes of the proceedings of its members, the board of

the corporation, and committees having any of the authority

of the board; and

addresses of its members entitled to vote.

(2) Inspections.—A member entitled to vote, or an agent or

attorney of the member, may inspect the records of the

corporation for any proper purpose, at any reasonable time.

(j) Annual Report.—Not later than one year after the date

of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than

annually thereafter, the corporation shall submit to the

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the

Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of

the House of Representatives a report on the activities of

the corporation during the prior fiscal year.

(k) Definition.—In this section, the term “fab lab”

means a facility that—

(1) contains the range of capabilities required to create

form and function from digital designs, including—

(A) computer-controlled machines for additive and

subtractive fabrication processes;

(B) tools and components for manufacturing and programming

electronic circuits;

(D) workflows for three-dimensional design and

digitization; and

(2) is committed to supporting education, innovation,

entrepreneurship, personal expression, self-sufficiency, and

social impact for its community through digital fabrication.

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