Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANGWORTHY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from South Carolina for the time.

I rise today in support of the Modernizing Government Technology Reform Act. It is no secret that America's cyber infrastructure is under constant attack by our adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned Americans of the cyber threat that China poses, declaring that China's hackers are preparing to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities.

Yet, despite warning after warning of the rising threats to our Nation's cyber infrastructure, our Federal agencies remain dangerously vulnerable to future, potentially devastating cyberattacks.

Every year, the Federal Government spends over $100 billion on IT and cybersecurity. Nonetheless, 80 percent of this spending goes to operating and maintaining outdated, obsolete legacy systems. These aging systems not only waste taxpayer money but also leave us exposed to our enemies.

These IT systems also require specific technical knowledge to operate and update, which creates enormous procurement and hiring challenges, leaving agencies scrambling to find vendors and employees with the necessary skills. In addition to the upfront costs associated with updating legacy IT, many of these systems continue to run with known security vulnerabilities and unsupported hardware or software. This is a ticking time bomb.

In an effort to bring the Federal Government up to speed with the challenges of modern-day cyber threats, Congress established the technology modernization fund to help eliminate these vulnerabilities and provide funding to improve, retire, or replace antiquated Federal IT systems and strengthen our agencies' cyber defenses, all without additional expense to the American taxpayer.

That is why reauthorizing and reforming the technology modernization fund is essential to our future success. Under this legislation, Federal agencies can continue the modernization process and adopt newer, safer technology in a rapidly advancing and increasingly dangerous world, all with greater congressional oversight to keep these efforts on track.

As my colleagues have already mentioned, this bill also establishes a Federal legacy IT inventory, a new oversight tool that will enable Congress to evaluate agency and government-wide efforts to modernize legacy IT technology and ensure that such critical modernization efforts are being done the right way.

Madam Speaker, our national security is at stake. We can't afford to become complacent while our adversaries plot against us.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to take our cybersecurity seriously and support H.R. 5527.

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