The Energy Sciences Coalition urges Congress to swiftly pass the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, including the DOE Quantum Leadership Act provisions, to expand funding, infrastructure, workforce training, and public‑private partnerships that sustain U.S. leadership and early applications in quantum science and technology.
On behalf of over 100 member organizations that make up the Energy Sciences Coalition (ESC), we urge Congress to pass as soon as possible a National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act. The U.S. leads in quantum science and technology and a reinvigorated national initiative would further accelerate quantum technology development and real-world applications vital to maintaining U.S. competitiveness and world leadership. In particular, ESC supports the DOE Quantum Leadership Act of 2025 (S. 579) and recommends that a final quantum reauthorization bill include those Department of Energy (DOE) provisions.
Since its enactment in 2018, the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) has successfully led to a nationally coordinated quantum science and technology program to advance quantum information science for quantum computing, networking, and sensing technologies; train a new generation of quantum scientists and engineers; and develop U.S. quantum ecosystems with strong partnerships between national labs, research universities, the quantum industry including new startups, and federal agencies. The next phase of NQI requires not just sustained funding for quantum information science but additional investments and new pathways to translate basic research into quantum technologies, explore early applications for, among other things, energy and national security missions, expand workforce development programs to meet growing demand, build up U.S. quantum manufacturing and supply chains, and utilize new public-private partnerships with the quantum industry to accelerate commercialization of new breakthroughs.The DOE Office of Science remains critical to NQI’s success. It is one of the leading federal science agencies advancing quantum science and technology innovation.
ESC supports the DOE Quantum Leadership Act because the legislation maintains and further expands the DOE Office of Science’s leadership role in advancing quantum science and technology for U.S. competitiveness, leverages the unique expertise and world-leading research facilities at DOE national laboratories and DOE-funded research universities, helps train the next-generation workforce, and expands public-private partnerships to accelerate innovation and future adoption. Key elements include:
- maintaining a foundational research program in quantum information science (QIS);
- expanding the foundational QIS research program to include first use cases and application development;
- renewing and increasing funding authorization for the 5 DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centers;
- launching an early-state quantum high performance computing research and development program to fund testbeds and prototypes to help inform the 10-year Quantum High Performance Computing Strategic Plan;
- creating both a new quantum instrumentation and a quantum foundry program needed to design, build, and deploy unique instrumentation, equipment, national lab infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities for quantum materials, devices, and other relevant quantum technologies;
- requiring a quantum supply chain study to identify critical quantum science, engineering, and technology supply chain needs to develop and maintain a robust domestic manufacturing base;
- expanding quantum computing, networking, and communications initiatives, including access to industry quantum computing and cloud resources to accelerate scientific discovery and improve commercial technologies;
- launching a dedicated quantum traineeship program to build the quantum This type of program has been successful in other science and technology areas and provides needed classroom training and research opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students working toward bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D. degrees. Research projects would partner students with DOE national labs to help students develop hands-on research and training experiences and build quantum curricula at research universities; and
- strengthening coordination between DOE STEM and workforce development activities at the DOE quantum centers and national laboratories with the new proposed National Science Foundation Education and Workforce Hub.
Collectively, these provisions will help the U.S. maintain a quantum advantage and start to explore early applications of this nascent technology that could have broad impacts in national security, telecommunications, health, finance, and energy. Thank you for advancing this critically important legislation.