Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Chairman, we have come to the conclusion of the debate on a bill which the Committee on Science sincerely believes…”

“Mr. Chairman, we have come to the conclusion of the debate on a bill which the Committee on Science sincerely believes will be one of the most important pieces of legislation enacted in the year 2000 by the 106th Congress. Should the other body agree and we send this bill to the President for his signature, America will have made a commitment to the information technology research that we need to continue our country as number 1 in this area. The pipeline for Federal research breakthroughs has slowed to a trickle as a result of some changes that have occurred since 1986. This bill provides a 5-year commitment to steady increases in funding for civilian information technology programs in the health areas as well as in the areas of computer science and information technology, and roughly doubles the funding for these programs over the next 5 years. The legislation before us, H.R. 2086, focuses Federal efforts on basic research. Federal basic research nicely complements private sector-applied research. In many cases, the basic research that is done under this bill and which has been done in the past has been too high risk for the private sector to prudently invest their own money in.”