Lamar Smith: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis) for her work…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis) for her work on this bill. And I'm pleased to join the Science Committee's ranking member, Ms. Johnson, as a cosponsor of H.R. 967, the Advancing America's Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013. This bill had broad bipartisan support in the last Congress, and I hope it will receive that same level of support today. In the digital age, protecting our Nation's computer networking systems is more important than ever. This bill provides the coordinated research and development efforts necessary to improve cyber and data security nationwide. And better network security promotes U.S. competitiveness, enhances national security, and creates high-tech jobs. The NITRD program is an extension of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. It represents the Federal Government's main R&D investment portfolio for unclassified networking, computing, software, cybersecurity, and related information technologies. Currently, 15 Federal agencies are contributing members of NITRD, with an additional 20 or so participating in the program. This bill serves as the mechanism for interagency coordination of R&D to ensure no duplication of research efforts among Federal agencies or the private sector. It rebalances R&D portfolios to focus less on short-term goals and more on large-scale, long-term interdisciplinary research.…”