Artistic Recognition for Talented Students Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman of the committee from New York (Mr. Nadler) for yielding and his support, as well as the distinguished Member from the great State of North Carolina (Mr. Bishop) for his support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 704, the ARTS Act, a bipartisan, bicameral effort to support the student creators of America, help ignite their passions, and allow them to dream big.

The Framers of our Constitution and the Founders of our great country understood that society would benefit if we incentivize creativity and innovation. That is why Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to create a robust intellectual property system to promote the progress of science and useful arts. Many of our Founders, of course, were authors and inventors themselves.

The ARTS Act seeks to build upon this principle and practice by helping to introduce the next generation of creators from around the country to copyright and intellectual property.

Specifically, it would permit the Register of Copyrights to waive application filing fees to register a copyright for those talented high school students who win the Congressional Art Competition or the Congressional App Competition each year.

By doing so, student creators will be incentivized to register their works, allowing them to gain experience with the copyright process and insight into its subsequent benefits and familiarize themselves with our intellectual property system, which is in the fabric of the U.S. Constitution.

We have often worked together in a bipartisan fashion to carry out our constitutional mandate in this space, as we are doing today. In the last Congress, this bill unanimously passed the Senate, and it has bipartisan support in both Chambers.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to particularly thank the original co-lead on this bill, Representative Nancy Mace, for her leadership and partnership on this legislation, as well as Senators Tillis and Leahy for leading this effort in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support our Nation's next generation of creators and to vote ``yes'' on this straightforward bipartisan, bicameral legislation.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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