Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act of 2023
Floor Speech
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Ms. MACE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support our bill, H.R. 4502, the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act. I say ``our bill,'' because my colleague Katie Porter from California and I joined forces.
I don't have a problem with anyone working and reaching across the aisle. No one wants to shut down the Federal Government. We are not on a crusade to do that. I just want Congress to follow the law.
There was a law created in 1974, the Budget Impact and Impoundment Control Act, that requires Congress to have a budget in 12 separate spending bills. Both sides do it. Both sides are a failure to the American people because we don't follow the law. We can't expect our fellow Americans to follow the law when we ourselves are unwilling to do the work.
Chuck Schumer has 70 percent of Federal Government spending in his in-box right now. No one wants to do that. I don't oppose us working across the aisle for government spending or any of that. There is no crusade to shut down the Federal Government. I just want Congress to do its job and follow the law.
On to the rest of it. This bill solves a simple problem. You can't deem one applicant more qualified for a Federal cybersecurity job solely because he or she has a degree in underwater basket weaving.
I remember the first time I learned to code my first programming language. I was actually in college, but college didn't teach me to code. I taught myself to code. There are a lot of kids and students and adults out there that are teaching themselves to code and finding great jobs. When I was a coder, my first job, I got paid $35,000 a year. Because of the demands of these jobs today, it is a much better era for programmers and engineers.
I have a family member today who never set foot in college. He recently turned 22. He owns his own home, and he makes significantly more money than we do as Members of Congress.
Despite the shortage of over 700,000 cybersecurity professionals in the public and private sector, people who don't attend or finish college are often barred from consideration for jobs in the field when they shouldn't be. There are many, many brilliant programmers and computer whizzes out there. There are some that drop out of Harvard after a year or two, like Bill Gates. There are many others who have gone on to have outstanding careers in IT, technology, cybersecurity, et cetera, and they don't have a college degree.
While the cyber workforce is crucial to our national security, it is graying rapidly. According to a report issued last year, there are five times as many cybersecurity workers over the age of 55 as there are under 30. Only 1 in 16 Federal cybersecurity workers is actually under the age of 30.
This bill would prohibit mandatory degree requirements for Federal cybersecurity jobs unless they are legally required to perform the duties of the position, which is rarely the case.
Currently, even entry-level positions in the Federal Government require a 4-year degree. Federal cybersecurity professionals help secure the information of millions of Americans from cybercriminals and hackers sponsored by enemy nation-states. Some of these young people literally have the skills to hack these critical systems, but they can't get their foot in the door for employment at the same agency. We are missing out on a tremendous amount of talent.
Over the past few years, we have seen leaders from both parties at all levels of government rolling back degree requirements resulting in greater economic opportunity for every American, no matter their ZIP Code.
Many large companies have done away with unnecessary degree requirements. If the government was run like a business, I think we would be much better off.
This bipartisan bill codifies--I hope no one's head explodes today--a Trump-era executive order maintained by the Biden administration. I can think of nothing more bipartisan than this.
Lastly, I thank my colleague Katie Porter from California for her work on this valuable piece of legislation.
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