The Senate Commerce Committee approved a handful of communications-related bills Wednesday (May 20), favorably recommending them to the full Senate for a vote and passage.
Getting the thumbs up were S. 3704, the Advanced Technological Manufacturing Act; S. 3712, the Cybersecurity Competitions to Yield Better Efforts to Research the Latest Exceptionally Advanced Problems (CYBER LEAP) Act of 2020; and S. 3717, the Spectrum IT Modernization Act of 2020.
The Advanced Technological Manufacturing Act would reauthorize the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program but also retool it given that COVID-19 has put an exclamation point on the need for more high tech workers in a world having to connect remotely.
The Cybersecurity Competitions to Yield Better Efforts to Research the Latest Exceptionally Advanced Problems (CYBER LEAP) Act of 2020 would set up various competition, with cash and non-cash prizes, to come up with "high-priority breakthroughs in cybersecurity by 2028" in areas including combatting cyber attacks, cyber education, workforce training, AI, next-gen communications tech, and more.
The Spectrum IT Modernization Act of 2020 would require the head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to submit a plan to Congress for the modernization of NTIA's IT systems.
