[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E166]]
   NETWORKING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. TOM BLILEY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2000

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2086) to 
     authorize funding for networking and information technology 
     research and development for fiscal years 2000 through 2004, 
     and for other purposes:

  Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Morella amendment 
to authorize networking and information technology research and 
development funding for the National Institutes of Health.
  As Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, the authorizing Committee 
for biomedical research, it is my great pleasure to join with Mrs. 
Morella to ensure that NIH receive the authorizing authority it needs 
to push the frontiers of research with powerful new tools. We were 
happy to work with the gentlelady from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and her 
capable staff in drafting this amendment, and ask that my colleagues 
join with me in supporting its adoption.
  Thanks to the Republican-controlled Congress, funding for biomedical 
research through NIH has expanded from $11.3 billion in FY 1995 to 
$17.8 billion in FY 2000. The Morella-Bliley amendment would authorize 
future funding for NIH high-performance computing applications to 
examine issues as diverse as new strategies to provide health care 
access to underserved people through telemedicine, computer modeling of 
biological processes to substitute for human embryonic stem cells, and 
the implications of collaborative biomedical research via the Next 
Generation Internet.
  Again, my thanks to the gentlelady from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) for 
her assistance in accomplishing this initiative. Mr. Speaker, I also 
submit for the Record a letter that I received from the National 
Institutes of Health requesting our assistance with this authorization.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

                                National Institutes of Health,

                                  Bethesda, MD, February 11, 2000.
     Hon. Tom Bliley,
     Chairman, Committee on Commerce, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to request your assistance 
     on behalf of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on a 
     matter of importance to our information technology 
     activities. As you may know, H.R. 2086, the Networking and 
     Information Technology and Research and Development Act of 
     1999, is pending in the House of Representatives. The 
     inclusion of NIH in certain provisions of the legislation 
     would help advance biomedical research.
       The primary purpose of the bill is to authorize funding for 
     networking and information technology (IT) research and 
     development for fiscal years 2000 through 2004 for the 
     following agencies: National Science Foundation, the National 
     Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of 
     Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
     the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the 
     Environmental Protection Agency. The NIH should be authorized 
     to participate in programs outlined in the bill because, like 
     the agencies listed above, we share the commitment to, and 
     investment for, both the Networking and Information 
     Technology Research and Development (NITRD) and Next 
     Generation Internet (NGI) initiatives. In fact, in fiscal 
     year (FY) 1999, NIH funding for information technology and 
     high performance computing and communications activities was 
     $110,535,000. We estimate that we will spend approximately 
     $182,782,000 in FY 2000 and $217,127,000 in FY 2001 for 
     related activities.
       With regard to H.R. 2086, Section 4 of the legislation 
     authorizes only the agencies mentioned above to participate 
     in the NITRD grant program for long-term basic research on 
     networking and information technology. Priority is given to 
     research that helps address issues related to high end 
     computing and software and network stability, fragility, 
     reliability, security (including privacy), and scalability. 
     It is important to note that the biomedical community is 
     increasingly using the power of computing to manage and 
     analyze data and to model biological processes. Recognizing 
     that biomedical researchers need to make optimal use of IT, 
     NIH supports (1) basic research and development in the 
     application of high performance computing to biomedical 
     research, (2) basic research, education, and human resources 
     in bio-informaries and computational science to address 
     research needs of biomedicine, (3) research in, and 
     application of high-speed networking infrastructures such as 
     the NGI for health care, health and science education, 
     medical research and telemedicine through the High 
     Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Initiative. 
     Enclosed are the funding levels for NIH in this area.
       Section 5 of the legislation reauthorizes funding for 
     agencies in support of the NGI initiative. Though excluded in 
     this reauthorization funding, the NIH has made a serious 
     commitment to furthering telemedicine by sponsoring dozens of 
     projects around the country, in a variety of rural and urban 
     settings. NIH has funded studies about privacy and 
     confidentiality issues, how telemedicine projects should be 
     evaluated, and what medical uses might be made of the NGI. In 
     fact, over the next three years, the NIH is funding test-bed 
     projects to study the use of NGI capabilities by the health 
     community.
       In summary, because of the commitment and investment shared 
     by NIH in both the ITRD and NGI initiatives, we deem it 
     appropriate that the legislation allow other agencies, such 
     as NIH, to participate in the NITRD program and to 
     specifically reauthorize NIH for the NGI initiative.
       Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give us on 
     the matter. I can be reached on (301) 496-3471, should you or 
     your staff have questions or need additional information.
           Sincerely,

                                               Marc Smolonsky,

                                            Associate Director for
                                  Legislative Policy and Analysis.

     

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