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Fund the reauthorized National Quantum Initiative at Congress's own proposed level, and extend post-quantum cryptography migration support beyond federal systems to critical infrastructure facing the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat.
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AI-researched, unverifiedLast Reviewed
Jul 4, 2026
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What is failing, what we would change, and the conclusion we are willing to defend.
Quantum computing policy currently looks like nuclear energy policy: broad bipartisan agreement on the goal (stay ahead of China, don't let America's research lead erode). An ordinary budget problem now undercuts that ideological agreement. The agreement is more than rhetoric. The National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization cleared committee unanimously in both the House and Senate, sponsored jointly by a Republican chairman and a Democratic ranking member. The same administration issuing ambitious executive orders on quantum leadership has also proposed the kind of science-agency budget cuts that would undercut the research base those orders depend on. Congress's own appropriators are pushing back.
The other half of this issue is more urgent and less abstract than "who leads in quantum research": a cryptographically-relevant quantum computer, whenever it arrives, could break the encryption protecting essentially all of today's digital infrastructure, and adversaries are already harvesting encrypted data now to decrypt once that capability exists, a documented threat pattern. The federal government has set a dated migration timeline for its own systems and contractors. It has not yet done the same for the privately-run critical infrastructure (power grids, financial systems, hospital networks) facing the identical threat on the identical timeline.
Fully fund the reauthorized National Quantum Initiative at the level its own bipartisan, bicameral sponsors have proposed, protecting it from the separate fight over overall science-agency budget levels.
Extend the post-quantum cryptography migration mandate, currently binding on federal agencies and their contractors on a dated, phased schedule, into resourced (not merely advisory) support for critical infrastructure operators facing the same "harvest now, decrypt later" threat, on a comparably realistic timeline.
Maintain the current bipartisan approach to quantum-specific export controls and outbound investment restrictions toward strategic adversaries, while treating the open question of whether these controls are accelerating adversary self-sufficiency as an empirical question that requires continued monitoring and adjustment.
Fund the reauthorized National Quantum Initiative at Congress's own proposed level, and extend post-quantum cryptography migration support beyond federal systems to critical infrastructure facing the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat.
Turn frustration into useful pressure.
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