On behalf of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and its member companies, we applaud Representative Tony Cárdenas for his leadership to expand access to computer science curriculum in our nation’s classrooms.

At a time when the national unemployment rate hovers around 7 percent, there are tens of thousands of open jobs –many of which are computer programming jobs –that can’t be filled as a result of an underqualified workforce.  If our economy is to truly realize its innovative capacity and grow, the federal government must redouble its investments in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in our nation’s classrooms.

Representative Cárdenas’ America Can Code Act of 2013 is an important step in that direction, and an innovative approach to help address our nation’s shortage of computer programmers.

We applaud the Congressman’s leadership and look forward to working with him and others in Congress to help shrink our nation’s skills gap.

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