By Natalie Alms
Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) are launching a new, bipartisan IT modernization caucus on Thursday, meant to “bring awareness to governments’ need to embrace technology and analytics to better deliver services to the American public.”
The two have a history of collaborating across party lines on technology and management issues, despite coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum. They were cosponsors of the original legislation establishing the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, when Issa chaired the House Oversight Committee and Connolly served as ranking member of a key subcommittee. In the release about the new caucus, the two highlighted FITARA’s impact, which they say has saved over $20 billion.
In 2014, the two teamed up on a cloud computing caucus that attracted members from both sides of the aisle.
Issa retired from Congress in 2018 but won election in an adjacent southern California district in 2020.
The new caucus will be an informal group of representatives working on IT modernization, as well as “educating other Members on subjects of interest regarding federal IT.” They say it’ll bring together federal policymakers and private sector actors together.
Source: https://fcw.com/it-modernization/2022/01/connolly-issa-launch-it-modernization-caucus/360963/