Jason Chaffetz: “I thank the chairman for his good work on this. Without Chairman Issa's leadership on this issue, we would not have this…”

“I thank the chairman for his good work on this. Without Chairman Issa's leadership on this issue, we would not have this bill here today. I appreciate his work and dedication and passion on this issue. I appreciate Mr. Cummings. I also appreciate Mr. Connolly and the good work he does on this topic. Mr. Speaker, I hope what people see here is a bipartisan approach to something that is a very large problem. There is a great imperative that we deal with this and deal with it right away. The Federal Government spent more than $600 billion over the past decade on information technology, and we spend, roughly, $80 billion a year just on IT. It is a critical component to making sure that we do have an effective and responsive government. Now, of the $80 billion or so that is spent each year, about one- third is spent on new procurement projects, and about two-thirds is spent on the operation and maintenance of existing or obsolete systems. It takes so much more energy and personnel to go through obsolete systems than it does to quickly replace with software and hardware and personnel new information technology systems that will make our government more responsive and more effective. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to work with an operating system that is no longer supported by the company that even makes the operating system. We have heard horror stories of people working on DOS operating systems. They are still looking at green screens, for goodness sakes.…”