Administration NII Accomplishments

During its first seven months, the Clinton-Gore Administration has taken major steps to make its vision of the National Information Infrastructure a reality:

• 1. Freeing up spectrum to create information "skyways":
  • The President recently signed the Emerging Telecommunications Technology Act, which directs the Secretary of Commerce to transfer, over a ten-year period, at least 200 MHz of spectrum now used by federal agencies to the FCC for subsequent licensing to the private sector. It allows the FCC to use competitive bidding to grant new license assignments for spectrum.

  • This will create high-tech jobs and accelerate the development of new wireless industries such as Personal Communications Services. The entire cellular industry, which has created 100,000 jobs, was created by licensing only 50 MHz of spectrum.

• 2. Reinventing Government:
  • The Administration is committed to using "electronic government" to ensure that the federal government works better and costs less.

  • As part of the National Performance Review, the Vice President has identified a number of concrete ways to use information technology to cut costs and improve services, such as electronic benefits transfer; access to government information and services through electronic "kiosks"; a national law enforcement/public safety network; and electronic procurement.

• 3. Investing in technology:

  The President's FY 1994 budget includes:

  • $1.1 billion for the High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative, including a new $100 million program to develop applications in areas such as education, manufacturing, health, and digital libraries. The House has passed legislation which would authorize these new programs; Senate action is expected in the fall of 1993.

  • $50 million for NTIA grants to demonstrate the applications of the NII for non-profit institutions such as schools, hospitals, and libraries.

  • $40 million for research by the Department of Energy's National Labs on the information infrastructure.

  The ARPA-led Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP), funded at $472 million in FY 1993, has generated almost 3,000 proposals from the private sector, requesting a total of $8.5 billion. Many of these proposals are for technology development for the National Information Infrastructure and its applications in health care, manufacturing, electronic commerce, and education and training. The President recently endorsed increasing the funding of the TRP to $600 million for FY 1994.

• 4. Making government information more available to citizens:
  • The Office of Management and Budget issued a new policy in June (OMB Circular A-130) to encourage agencies to increase citizen access to public information.

  • Also in June, the President and Vice President announced that the White House would be accessible to the public via electronic mail. The Administration is using on-line information services and the Internet to make available speeches, press briefings, executive orders, and a summary of the budget.

• 5. Creating the right environment for private sector investment in the National Information Infrastructure:
  • The President has signed into law tax incentives for private sector investment in R&D and new business formation, including a three-year extension of the R&D credit and a targeted capital gains reduction for investments in small businesses. Both of these tax incentives will help spur the private sector investment needed to develop the National Information Infrastructure.

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