Date: 2000-10-24
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr.-Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 4940 and will address my comments to title II. the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act. Title II authorizes a major new research investment in information technology. which is very important- to the Nations future wellbeing. Action by Congress to authorize this initiative really should not be delayed. Information technology is a major driver of economic growth. It creates highwage jobs. provides for the rapid communication throughout the world. and provides the tools for acquiring knowledge and insight from information. Advances in computing and communications will make the workplace more productive and improve the quality of health care and make government more responsive and accessible to the needs of our citizens. Mr. Speaker. vigorous longterm research is essential for realizing the potential of information technology. The technical advances that led to todays computers and Internet evolved from passed Federally sponsored research. in partnership with industry and universities. The research authorized by H.R. 4940 will ensure that the store of basic knowledge is replenished and. thereby. enable the development of future generations of technology products and services. This legislation has received the bipartisan cosponsorship of many Members and I would like to acknowledge the collegial manner in which title II of the bill was developed by the Committee on Science. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin . the chairman. and the gentleman from Texas . the ranking Democratic member. for their persistent efforts to move this measure towards final passage. Title II of the bill will establish a multiagency research initiative that responds to the recent findings and recommendations of the Presidents Information Technology Advisory Committee. This committee. which was established through statute. is composed of distinguished representatives from computer and communications companies and from academia. It reached its conclusions following a comprehensive assessment of current Federally funded information technology research. Mr. Speaker. the Presidents Advisory Committee found that Federal funding for information technology research has tilted too much towards support for nearterm. missionfocus objectives. They discovered a growing gap between the power of highperformance computers available to support agency mission requirements versus- support for the general academic research community. They identified the need for socioeconomic research on the impact on society of the rapid evolution of information technology. and they judged that the annual Federal research investment is inadequate by more than $1 billion. The bill before us addresses each of the deficiencies identified by the advisory committee and will effectively implement its recommendations. I am particularly pleased by the inclusion of a provision I offered to the committee to explicitly authorize research to identify. understand. anticipate. and address the potential social and economic costs and benefits from the increasing pace of information technology based transformations. In addition to support for research. title H will also contribute to providing the highly trained workers needed by the information industries. The human resource pool would be expanded through two principal mechanisms. First. as a part of their training. graduate students will participate in most of the individual research projects authorized. Secondly. special provision is made for the student internships in industry to help recruit individuals for careers in informationbased companies. I sponsored a provision that opened such internships to students participating in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program administered by the National Science Foundation. Mr. Speaker. I believe that the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act is an important investment in the future prosperity of this Nation and in the wellbeing of our fellow citizens. I recommend the measure to my colleagues and ask for full support of its passage.