H.R. 7696

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7696 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7696

To establish a grant program to provide awards to National Laboratories 
and institutions of higher education to develop secure artificial 
intelligence (AI) cyber-physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale 
cyberattacks, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 25, 2026

Mr. Hern?ndez (for himself, Mr. Liccardo, and Mrs. Grijalva) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
Security

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To establish a grant program to provide awards to National Laboratories 
and institutions of higher education to develop secure artificial 
intelligence (AI) cyber-physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale 
cyberattacks, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``AI Cyber Grid Protection Resilient 
Development Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO SECURE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) CYBER-
PHYSICAL TESTBEDS TO SIMULATE GRID-SCALE CYBERATTACKS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Cybersecurity and 
Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security 
and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly establish a grant 
program to provide awards for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to 
eligible entities to develop secure artificial intelligence (AI) cyber-
physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale cyberattacks and train AI 
models safely.
(b) Reports.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter through 2031, the 
Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the 
Department of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall jointly submit to Congress a report detailing evolving threats, 
AI mitigation progress, and recommendations for further legislative or 
regulatory action relating to grid-scale cyberattacks.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to make 
grants under subsection (a).
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) AI; artificial intelligence.--The terms ``AI'' and 
``artificial intelligence'' have the meaning given the term 
``artificial intelligence'' in section 238(g) of the John S. 
McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 
(Public Law 115-232).
(2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means 
any of the following:
(A) An institution of higher education (as such 
term is defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))), including 
any of the following:
(i) A public college or university.
(ii) A community college.
(iii) A Hispanic-serving institution (as 
such term is defined in section 502 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1101a)).
(B) A National Laboratory (as such term is defined 
in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 15801)).
(C) A consortium comprised of one or more entities 
specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B).
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