Advancing America's Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 967, the Advancing America's Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013. H.R. 967 is a good, bipartisan bill which I was pleased to join Mrs. Lummis from Wyoming and Mr. Hall from Texas in introducing.

H.R. 967 is largely based on a 2009 House-passed bill that was introduced by then-Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall. But the current bill also includes some updates from the 2009 bill that reflect changes to the network and information technology landscape as well as policy and management recommendations made by an outside panel of experts charged with evaluating the NITRD program.

The NITRD program, as it is known, involves a collaboration of 15 Federal research and development agencies, each contributing its own unique expertise and effort to ensure that we make most effective use of our Federal R&D resources and remain a leader in these fields. H.R. 967 requires that all 15 agencies come together to develop and periodically update a strategic plan for Federal investments in NIT R&D.

H.R. 967 calls for increased support for large-scale, long-term interdisciplinary research in NIT that will help us tackle national challenges such as improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our health care and energy delivery service systems. The bill also promotes partnerships between the Federal Government, academia, and industry to foster technology transfer.

In particular, I'd like to highlight H.R. 967's role in ensuring that the education of the future NIT workforce remains an important component of the NITRD program. I am hearing every day from small and large companies alike that the demand for skilled IT professionals is much higher than the supply. We hear this same message from university faculty, who tell us their computer science graduates are snatched up the moment they graduate, regardless of the health of the overall job market. This gap between supply and demand exists despite the fact that these jobs are among the highest-paying and the most stable jobs in our economy today.

It is imperative that we encourage more young Americans to pursue studies in the NIT fields. In particular, because of the stark gender and racial gaps we see in computer science programs, it is imperative that we encourage more young women and students of color to enter these fields. We simply won't be able to remain a global leader in these important fields without more than 50 percent of our Nation's brainpower sitting on the sidelines.

H.R. 967 doesn't go quite as far as I'd like it to go in addressing these education challenges, but it still sends an important message about the need to educate more of our students in our NIT fields and provides the necessary authority for the agencies to play an important and appropriate role here.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention that the NITRD program serves as a coordinating and planning umbrella for all unclassified Federal cybersecurity R&D. Our committee addressed specific needs in cybersecurity R&D separately in H.R. 756; but in doing so, we made sure that both the intellectual and financial resources for cybersecurity R&D are appropriately integrated with the rest of the Federal NIT portfolio. Information security R&D should not take place in its own silo. IT bears on all networking and information technologies.

In closing, NIT technologies cut across every sector of our economy and our national defense infrastructure. Our relatively modest 20-year investment in the NITRD program has contributed immeasurably to our economic and national security by enabling innovation and job creation in NIT and providing American students with the skills to fill these jobs. Let's reauthorize this program today and ensure that it remains strong.

I want to thank my friend Ms. Lummis for reintroducing our bipartisan bill once again in this Congress. I'd also like to thank my staff--and in particular Dahlia Sokolov--for their hard work on this bill.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 967, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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