Public Policy Priorities

Research & Innovation

IEEE-USA supports federal research and development (R&D) appropriations and innovation-related legislation required to retain U.S. technological leadership, promote economic competitiveness, and create high-value research and engineering jobs in the United States. Priorities include:

• Fully funding the CHIPs and Science Act (Pub. L. 117–167) commitments and the U.S. National Science Foundation Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate;
• Ensuring the U.S. R&D enterprise has state-of-the-art facilities, infrastructure, and administration to support research in both existing and emerging areas of national importance;
• Urging appropriate changes to the U.S. Export Controls policy, including the deemed export rule;
• Expanding small- and medium-sized technology businesses;
• Advocating for government public policies that support small business technology development; and
• Supporting the reauthorization of robust and well-managed SBIR/STTR programs.
  Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data, & Privacy

IEEE-USA will support coordinated federal policies that promote safety, privacy, cyber security, and intellectual property protection and ensure the public can make informed decisions about the use of AI systems. Priorities include:

• Promoting the development of a well-qualified workforce in AI-related fields to support the needs of government, industry, and academia;
• Supporting the R&D required to ensure U.S. leadership and continued competitiveness in AI;
• Providing effective AI federal regulation and guidance to ensure public well-being while fostering a robust AI industry;
• Encouraging the responsible adoption of AI to increase government efficiency with appropriate accountability mechanisms;
• Ensuring the use of standards related to privacy and ethics in the use and implementation of AI;
• Ensuring that disparate impacts of AI, such as the risks of bias and privacy infringement, are mitigated;
• Facilitating stakeholder understanding of AI rewards and risks: what is possible, what is planned, and what is hype;
• Encouraging public availability of appropriate anonymized data from large commercial platforms;
• Protecting personal privacy for all users in the face of growing digital data collection; and
• Promoting education and legislation fostering cybersecurity for users, enterprises, and national infrastructure.

Energy

IEEE-USA supports proactive energy public policies designed to serve energy users’ needs economically and environmentally while protecting U.S. national security. Priorities include:

• Promoting economic electricity generation, transmission, and utilization by assuring reliable and cost-effective electricity supply to maintain U.S. competitiveness and grow the economy;
• Developing a reliable and intelligent grid infrastructure by improving facilities and developing new technologies needed to increase grid resilience as well as deliver reliable electrical energy;
• Improving critical energy infrastructure security by mitigating risks and managing energy system resilience in the national interest through implementing tamper-resistant and resilient technologies to direct physical or cyberattacks;
• Strengthening the viability and availability of nuclear power;
• Promoting responsible environmental stewardship to preserve America’s resources and increase the use of environmentally benign and sustainable energy supplies for future generations;
• Diversifying energy sources in the transportation sector to increase options within the transportation system, improve its energy efficiency, and reduce emissions;
• Reducing institutional barriers to engineering solutions that involve technologies required to operate across jurisdictional and information architectural boundaries; and
• Preparing a skilled engineering and trade workforce with the knowledge and skills to design, plan, construct, operate, and maintain modern energy delivery systems.

Immigration

IEEE-USA supports public policies to ensure greater equity in recruiting, utilizing, and compensating U.S.- and foreign-born high-tech workers. Priorities include:

• Increasing the availability of permanent, employment-based (EB) visas;
• Streamlining the STEM-related immigrant admissions process;
• Facilitating the transition of foreign nationals with advanced U.S. degrees in STEM fields to Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card) status;
• Reforming the H-1B and L temporary work visa programs and
• Expediting short-term visitor visa processing.

Intellectual Property

IEEE-USA supports intellectual property reforms that promote the balance established in our constitution and equitably serve the entire cross-section of the U.S.-based IEEE membership — including start-up companies, individual inventors, university and national laboratory researchers, and corporations. Priorities include:

• Ensuring intellectual property laws and regulations support entrepreneurial efforts to develop, commercialize, and license inventions and innovations;
• Clarifying and advocating for inclusive copyright-eligible and patent-eligible subject matter in computer software, business methods, and diagnostic methods; and
• Encouraging U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) operations that enhance patent examination quality and reduce pendency to protect the rights of inventors and the public.

Space

IEEE-USA works to promote U.S. leadership and competitiveness in space technologies. Priorities include:

• Advancing a technology-focused national space program that balances exploration, science, national security and international partnerships.

Other Issues of Concern

This list of priorities is subject to change as national and global affairs evolve. In addition to the issues listed above, IEEE-USA may contribute to other public policy issues of concern to the IEEE membership when they arise. IEEE-USA also works with other IEEE organizational units to support their government relations needs in areas such as standards and publications, and it works in coalition with external organizations on issues involving shared interests. IEEE-USA provides competitively selected government fellows to Congress, the State Department, and USAID to provide expert advice on engineering, science, and technology.

Feedback Welcome

Do not hesitate to contact us and express your views about legislative or regulatory actions in your home state legislature or Congress. Please let IEEE-USA know if opportunities arise that will affect positive changes for the U.S. engineering community and industries that rely on engineers. If you have questions about these issues, please contact Erik Heilman at e.heilman@ieee.org.

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