Burgess Owens: “this amendment seeks to deal with the omission which I cited earlier. There is a problem, there is a crisis, there is a…”

“this amendment seeks to deal with the omission which I cited earlier. There is a problem, there is a crisis, there is a great need for more information technology workers. There is a crisis that will be met with legislation from this House of Representatives in the 105th Congress. There are a number of different committees looking at the problem, and this committee should do its duty and address the problem. Government analyses, industry reports, media headlines, and lobbying activities from businesses point to a crisis in the American education system and the workplace. There are not enough workers to fill 200,000 to 400,000 current vacancies in various categories of information technology jobs. It has been reported that 'a major factor affecting the short supply of information technology workers is a mismatch between what universities teach and what industry needs.' One industry executive likened the current situation to 'running out of iron ore in the middle of the industrial revolution.' While I commend the chairmen and ranking members of both the committee and the subcommittee for fashioning a palatable bill, H.R. 6 does not comprehensively address the anchor role that our higher education institutions could play in eliminating America's newest deficit of high skilled technology workers. The Information Technology Partnership Amendment which I am offering here would correct this gross oversight in H.R. 6.”