DelBene visits Cascadia College to discusses technology and government with students

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) engaged Cascadia College students in Bothell in a discussion on the intersection of federal government and technology during the last week of the quarter. The class meeting was the culminating experience for students enrolled in a fall humanities course titled “Technology, Culture, and Innovation” taught by David Ortiz.

DelBene, who had a career in biotech and technology entrepreneurship prior to being elected to office, discussed the joys and frustrations of championing technology legislation in the House of Representatives. She shared her excitement about new technologies being developed in King and Snohomish counties that are helping to advance agriculture, manufacturing, and medicine but also acknowledged that moving technology-related legislation through Congress can be difficult.

“There is a lot of competition for funding, and congresspeople tend to want to see quick returns on their investments,” DelBene said. “Technological breakthroughs don’t happen quickly. It can take 10-15 years to start to see the pay-offs.”

In response to a student question about whether congressional inaction on technology is due to partisanship, DelBene said, “Technology itself is not really partisan but it has an impact on some challenging issues” that Congress is grappling with. As an example, she went on to cite the debate on information privacy and encryption technology that arose over a Department of Justice request to have Apple unlock an iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter.

DelBene suggested partisanship may play a role in budget gridlock, however. Recently, in order to avoid shutdown, the federal government has been funded in 60-90 day installations through continuing resolutions. DelBene expressed the challenges in this method of budgeting.

“When we’re operating this way, we’re not able to end anything that’s not working and we don’t invest in anything new,” DelBene said.

The current continuing resolution will keep the government open through April 28, 2017.