Jim Sensenbrenner: “the United States stands as the global leader in computing, communication, and information technology. This $500 billion…”

“the United States stands as the global leader in computing, communication, and information technology. This $500 billion a year industry accounted for one-third of our Nation's economic growth since 1992 and created new industries and millions of new high-paying jobs. This staggering success, however, is predicated on Federal research conducted over the last 3 decades. Fundamental IT research played an essential role in the information revolution. However, maintaining the Nation's global leadership in information technology is not a given. The congressionally-chartered President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, called PITAC, stated that the ``current boom in information technology is built on basic research in computer science carried out more than a decade ago. There is an urgent need to replenish the knowledge base.'' Although the private sector conducts most of the IT research, that spending has focused on short-term applied work. As our Nation's economy becomes more dependent upon the Internet and IT in general, current Federal programs and support for fundamental research and IT must be revitalized. To accomplish this, I, along with George Brown, the late ranking minority member of the Committee on Science, and 24 other Members introduced H.R. 2086, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act, a 5-year authorization bill.”