Senator plans to propose quantum initiative reauthorization as part of NDAA

Upper chamber lawmakers are angling to fit reauthorization for one of the government’s biggest quantum efforts into the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., is leading the effort to offer reauthorization of the National Quantum Initiative Act as an amendment to the NDAA, his spokesperson confirmed to Nextgov/FCW.

The National Quantum Initiative Act was signed into law in 2018 by President Donald Trump during his first term in office. It expired in 2023, and Young sponsored the reauthorization of the bill alongside Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., earlier this year, with a full floor vote still pending in the upper chamber. A House version is still awaiting committee vote. 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a longtime champion of funding quantum information sciences and technology work, outfitted the NQIA reauthorization bill currently under consideration in the Senate with three new amendments that address different aspects of the QIST ecosystem during committee hearings. Young would like to see the bill that includes those amendments make it into the NDAA, his spokesperson said.

Plans for the NQIA reauthorization follow Trump’s signature of two landmark executive orders on Monday, accelerating federal efforts in quantum information science and tech research as well as network migration to a post-quantum cryptographic standard. 

Both the House and Senate versions of the NQIA reauthorization feature some defense provisions, with both versions of the bill directing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to support research that measures the comparative performance and progress of quantum technologies. Both versions also focus on fortifying supply chains for quantum technologies and expanding partnerships with the private sector.