[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 69 (Monday, April 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S2484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TECHNET'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize TechNet for its 
indispensable role in promoting the innovation economy and to 
congratulate the organization on its 20th anniversary.
  TechNet is a national, bipartisan network of technology CEOs and 
senior executives that represents more than 2 million employees in the 
fields of information technology, e-commerce, advanced energy, 
biotechnology, venture capital, and finance. Over the last two decades, 
TechNet has advanced public policies and private sector initiatives 
that have helped to strengthen our Nation's position as the global 
technology leader and to create jobs and opportunities for millions of 
Americans. TechNet has been at the forefront of championing research 
and development, broadband connectivity, entrepreneurship, cyber 
security, tax reform, education reform, high-skilled immigration, and 
many other issues.
  TechNet was founded in 1997 by two giants in the technology industry: 
John Doerr and John Chambers.
  John Doerr's technology career began in 1974 at Intel, where he held 
roles in engineering, marketing, management, and sales. He later 
founded Silicon Compilers, a VLSI CAD software company, and cofounded 
@Home, a nationwide broadband cable Internet service. In 1980, John 
joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, KPCB, and has since supported 
some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, including Google's 
Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt; Amazon's Jeff Bezos; and 
Inuit's Scott Cook and Bill Campbell. John avidly supports 
entrepreneurs seeking to create the ``next big thing'' in mobile and 
social networks, education, and economic development. Ventures 
sponsored by John have created more than 300,000 new jobs. Outside of 
KPCB, John also supports entrepreneurs who focus on the environment, 
public education, and alleviating global poverty. John serves on the 
boards of Amyris, Google, and Zynga, as well as several private 
technology ventures.
  John Chambers spent 8 years with Wang Laboratories and 6 years with 
IBM before joining Cisco in 1991 as senior vice president, worldwide 
sales and operations. Over the course of 20 years at Cisco, he helped 
grow the company from $70 million, when he joined, to $1.2 billion when 
he assumed the role of CEO, to $47 billion when he stepped down as CEO 
in 2015. He is now executive chairman of the board for Cisco, where he 
counsels Cisco's leadership on company strategy, digital 
transformation, and strategic partnerships. John has received numerous 
awards for his leadership, including being named one of the Best-
Performing CEOs in the World in 2015 by Harvard Business Review and 
receiving the Edison Achievement Award for Innovation. John has also 
been named one of Barron's' World's Best CEOs, one of Time Magazine's 
100 Most Influential People, and the Best Boss in America by 20/20. In 
addition, John has been widely recognized for his philanthropic 
leadership and his active role in corporate social responsibility 
initiatives. He served on President Bill Clinton's Trade Policy 
Committee and on President George W. Bush's National Infrastructure 
Advisory Council, Transition Team, and Education Committee.
  As chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, I commend 
John Doerr and John Chambers for their continuing efforts to keep 
America's technology industry at the forefront of the global economy. I 
honor them for their significant contributions to the tech industry.
  In February of this year, I unveiled my innovation agenda for the 
115th Congress and discussed several priorities to strengthen and 
secure America's place as the global leader in innovation. TechNet 
shares many of these priorities, including spurring high-tech 
investment and enhancing America's competitive workforce.
  Our Nation is in need of workers with training in science, 
technology, engineering, and math--or STEM disciplines. We need to 
encourage our rising generation to focus on hard science and 
quantitative skills and to provide opportunities for Americans already 
in the workforce to develop expertise in these fields. Enhancing our 
competitive workforce also means improving the process by which high-
skilled individuals in other countries come to the United States to 
fill crucial positions for which there is a shortage of American labor. 
As we endeavor to reform our high-skilled immigration system, we need 
to ensure that this system is not manipulated to undercut domestic 
wages or displace American workers. We need to reward good actors who 
use the system as it was intended and close off the ability of bad 
actors to profit by sending American jobs overseas.
  TechNet provides our Nation an invaluable service as it continues to 
champion policies that promote the innovation economy. As a leader on 
tech and innovation issues here in the Senate, I look forward to 
working with TechNet and the rest of the tech community to ensure that 
the United States remains the global technology leader. I congratulate 
TechNet on its first 20 years and wish the organization the best of 
luck in its next 20 years.

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