# H.R. 1223 (119th): Accelerating Networking, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic Research Act or the ANCHOR Act

Accelerating Networking, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic Research Act or the ANCHOR Act This bill requires the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications capabilities of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF). ARF is comprised of U.S.-flagged vessels that provide at-sea laboratories where oceanographic scientists, educators, and students research and learn about marine science. The bill requires the plan to include assessments of telecommunications and networking needs of ARF, consistent with typical scientific missions; cybersecurity needs appropriate for the operation of ARF vessels and their specific research functions; the costs necessary to meet these needs; the time required to implement necessary upgrades; and opportunities for the adoption of common solutions or consortial licensing agreements, or for the centralization of cybersecurity, telecommunications, or data management at a single facility. The plan must also include a spending plan for the NSF, the Office of Naval Research, nonfederal owners of ARF vessels, and users of the vessels to cover identified costs. Among other factors specified in the bill, the NSF must consider, as appropriate, the network capabilities necessary to meet mission needs (e.g., to upload data to cloud-based or shoreside servers), international standards and guidance for information security, and requirements for controlled unclassified or classified information. The plan must be provided to Congress within 18 months of the bill's enactment, and the NSF must later report to Congress on the plan's implementation.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: appropriations. Category: corruption_stewardship. Lane tag: general equity.
Lane: cybersecurity. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: procedural. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: research_infrastructure. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 136: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The bill is a prudential administrative measure. It pursues an ordinary good (secure, adequate research communications) and carries routine spending and planning questions, with no direct restraint of a named evil and no direct advancement of one. Under the framework, that is best classed as mixed/prudential rather than good or evil.
Theological note: The measure is an administrative planning and infrastructure bill for scientific research. It bears on stewardship of resources and honest, competent public administration, but it involves no direct moral harm or protection of a named evil, so its relevance to moral judgment is limited.

## Recorded votes

Roll 136: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Yea 412 · Nay 11 · Other 10.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-1223-119/