Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2007

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1068) to amend the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on H.R. 1068, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 1068, a bill to amend the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. This is a bipartisan bill which Congresswoman Biggert and I introduced.

I want particularly to acknowledge the role Mrs. Biggert has played in working to develop this legislation over the past several years. This bill is based on a bill introduced by Congresswoman Biggert and Congressman Lincoln Davis during the past two Congresses. And in both those Congresses, the bill passed the House.

I also want to thank Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall for their support for the legislation, for helping to advance it through the committee and to bring it to the floor.

H.R. 1068 will improve the planning and coordination process for the major Federal interagency research program in information technology. Information technology is a major driver of economic growth. It creates high-wage jobs, provides for rapid communication throughout the world, and provides the tools for acquiring knowledge.

For example, information technology helps to make the workplace more productive, to improve the quality of health care, and to make government more responsive and accessible to the needs of our citizens.

High-performance computing and networking is not only an essential component of U.S. scientific competitiveness, it also has important industrial, medical, and defense applications.

Vigorous long-term research is essential for realizing the potential of information technology. The technical advances that led to today's computers and the Internet evolved from past federally sponsored research, in partnership with industry and universities. High- performance computing is necessary as we work to develop new ways to transfer vast amounts of information around the world.

The depth and strength of U.S. capability in information technology stems in part from the sustained research and development program carried out by Federal research agencies under a program codified by the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. That act is widely credited with reinvigorating U.S. high-performance computing capabilities after a period of relative decline during the late 1980s.

The 1991 act created a multi-agency R&D program to accelerate development of information technology and to attack challenging computational science and engineering problems. The 1991 act also put in place a formal process for planning and budgeting for the activities carried out under the interagency R&D program, which is formally known as the Networking and Information Technology R&D Program.

The need for this legislation today arises from what I would characterize as a weakening over time of the planning and prioritization process for the program.

In order to maintain our competitiveness, we must ensure that the resources available to advance high-performance computing technology are allocated to the highest priority areas and that the activities supported are carefully coordinated among the performing agencies.

Toward that end, H.R. 1068 requires formal biennial reviews of the interagency program by its external advisory committee in order to provide advice from the research community and from the information technology industries on how to sharpen program priorities and improve program implementation. Also, the required annual progress report for the program must now include a formal response to the recommendations of the advisory committee.

H.R. 1068 calls on the agencies carrying out the program to focus more effort on high-end computing. The key requirement is for the Office of Science and Technology Policy to create and maintain a road map for developing and deploying high-end systems necessary to ensure that the U.S. research community has sustained access to the most capable computing systems.

Finally, this bill clarifies the grand challenge problems supported under the interagency program, such as clean energy production, climate change, and patient safety and health quality, which are intended to involve multidisciplinary teams of researchers and demand the most capable high-performance computing and networking resources.

Consistent with this requirement, the bill also specifies the provisions for access to high-end computing systems includes technical support to users of these systems.

Mr. Speaker, the interagency information technology research program launched by the 1991 act has been largely a success. H.R. 1068 will serve to strengthen this vital research program and deserves the approval of this House. I ask my colleagues for their support in passing H.R. 1068.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will just very briefly again commend Mrs. Biggert for her leadership on this. She has been steadfast and dogged on this. We hope with the changes we made to this bill, it will meet the approval of the other body. This is not a partisan issue. This is about keeping American science and industry at the very forefront of the world. This bill will help us do that.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 2963) to transfer certain land in Riverside County, California, and San Diego County, California, from the Bureau of Land Management to the United States to be held in trust for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, preserving tribal cultures is a fundamental aspect of the United States' trust responsibility to Indian tribes and is key to the survival of Native America. The Federal government can begin to meet this responsibility by transferring land that is an integral part of a tribe's culture to the tribe. This measure does just that.

Introduced by my friend from the other side of the aisle, Representative Darrell Issa, this measure would transfer land administered by the Bureau of Land Management to be held in trust for the Pechanga Band in California. The land contains sites and plants integral to the Tribe's culture and religion.

Because of the importance of the land to the cultural survival of the Tribe, the legislation requires that the land may only be used for the protection, preservation, and maintenance of archaeological, cultural, and wildlife resources. Only maintenance roads may be constructed and the land must be administered in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the Tribe and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The pending measure would also transfer approximately 12 acres to the San Diego Gas and Electric Company, which has an unauthorized electric line on part of the land. The land will be transferred only upon payment of fair market value for the land, plus payment for the past unauthorized use of the land.

Last Congress, a similar measure passed the House, and I would note that this measure is supported by the City of Temecula, and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Texas, the ranking member of the Science Committee, for yielding me the time.

And I am so pleased to be the cosponsor of this bill that was introduced by my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird). He has been a great member on the Science Committee for several years. This bill may seem familiar to many of my colleagues in the House and for

good reason. In both the 108th and 109th Congresses, we did introduce legislation that would do exactly the same thing as the bill we are considering today with some additions. H.R. 4218 in the 108th Congress and H.R. 28 in the 109th Congress were approved not only overwhelmingly by the Science Committee but by the full House of Representatives.

Unfortunately, because of jurisdictional complications, our friends in the other body across the rotunda had never considered this legislation. It had been endorsed by the President's science adviser, Dr. Marburger, several years ago. It is a real shame that it hasn't moved forward, but we are really happy we are, I think, going to have both sides of the aisle work on it this time.

At the time when we first introduced the High Performance Computing Revitalization Act in April of 2004, a new Japanese supercomputer, the Earth Simulator, was the fastest supercomputer in the world, a title it held for well over 2 years, from June 2002 through November of 2004.

Some experts claimed that Japan was able to produce a computer far ahead of American machines because the U.S. had taken an overly cautious or conventional approach to computing R&D. In hindsight, we see that caution meant lost opportunities.

Granted a lot has changed since November of 2004. The U.S. is now home to not only the world's fastest supercomputer, but seven of the 10 fastest, thanks to the hard work and competitive spirit of people at IBM, Cray and Silicon Graphics, as well as the Department of Energy and

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1068. It will strengthen the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991.

Tomorrow, the Committee on Science and Technology will hold a hearing on U.S. innovation and competitiveness. High-performance computers have a role to play in our economic competitiveness, as they vastly enhance our ability to perform very complex computations quickly and they do it efficiently. H.R. 1068 will help ensure that American researchers have access to the very best tools available as they tackle cutting-edge problems in key fields such as nanotechnology, homeland security, and biotechnology. In addition, this bill helps reinforce the Federal commitment to ``supercomputing,'' a commitment that becomes increasingly more important as European and Asian countries continue to increase their investment in developing and purchasing the next generation of supercomputers.

Nobody knows this measure better than my distinguished colleague from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert). She has worked tirelessly in two previous Congresses to have this important legislation enacted. In fact, she has been successful in the House on both occasions, only to see it stall on the Senate side.

In an effort to keep that from happening again, we have made a few modifications to help ensure it gets Senate support. With these slight alterations, I hope we will find that the third time is a charm.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1068.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 1081, H.R. 2963.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no interviewing action or debate, and any statements relating to this measure be printed in the Record.