Sponsors (2)
Official title: Direct the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative research to advance weather models in the United States, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress February 12, 2026
The bill channels federal computing and grant support to accelerate AI- and HPC-driven weather and climate modeling—improving forecasts, research, and workforce development—but does so with taxpayer cost, concentrated infrastructure and competition effects, and added security, inclusion, and administrative risks.
Communities (state and local governments, hospitals, rural areas) could get more accurate and higher-resolution forecasts and warnings because the bill funds advanced computing and model development.
Scientists, researchers, and students gain funded, coordinated access to DOE high-performance computing and testing opportunities to build higher-resolution and AI-enabled weather and climate models.
Students and early-career professionals benefit from workforce development funding, training, and recruitment pathways for weather, water, and climate computing careers.
Taxpayers will likely shoulder costs for establishing centers, purchasing computing infrastructure, and multi-year contracts to run enhanced HPC and modeling programs.
Concentrating advanced computing resources and selecting a limited set of national labs risks creating geographic concentration, bottlenecks, and reduced competition for researchers nationwide.
Open data and code-sharing—even with safeguards—could increase national-security or privacy risks if sensitive datasets or tools are inadequately protected.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes a DOE–NOAA competitive program using advanced computing to develop and compare advanced weather models, permits up to three DOE lab centers, requires reports, and sunsets the NOAA initiative after five years.
Creates a multi-agency R&D program for NOAA and the Department of Energy to use advanced computing (HPC, AI, machine learning, data assimilation, cloud, and quantum techniques) to develop, compare, and improve advanced weather models. The Act sets up competitive, merit-reviewed awards open to federal labs, universities, nonprofits, and other consortia; authorizes collaboration agreements and reimbursable work; allows DOE to designate up to three National Laboratory centers of excellence; requires two joint reports to Congress; and ties implementation to existing federal foreign-talent‑recruitment rules. The initiative authority sunsets five years after enactment.