Sherwood Boehlert: “The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act is very important legislation. It will maintain…”

“The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act is very important legislation. It will maintain the U.S. global leadership in information technology. When one is the first and one is the best, one has to work at maintaining that first place position, at securing the fact that one legitimately is the very best. The $500 billion a year information technology industry has accounted for one-third of our Nation's economic growth since 1992, and created new industries and millions of new high-paying jobs. All across America people are benefiting from what has been done in information technology. Once again, we are the leader, we are first, we are the best, and we have to work at maintaining that. We have to prioritize basic information technology research. There are a whole slew of very good ideas, but we have to have priorities. We have to go first with that which is most important. We have to produce the next generation of highly-skilled information technology workers. This bill will help attract more students to science and to careers in information technology by providing grants for colleges and companies to create for-credit courses which include internships. Participating companies must commit to providing 50 percent of the cost of the program.”