House Majority Leader pushes to preserve President Obama’s tech fellow program

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarty (R-CA) is pushing a bill to protect one of President Barack Obama’s tech priorities after he leaves office. The GOP leader’s bill would put the force of law behind President Obama’s 2012 Presidential Innovation Fellows Program, which brings on a small number of tech-savvy employees from the private sector every year and places them around the government for short stints of service.

President Obama already signed an executive order in 2015 making the program permanent. At the time, President Obama said he hoped the program would help build “a government that’s as modern, as innovative, and as engaging as our incredible tech sector is.” While unlikely in the case of the fellows program, executive orders can always be undone by the next administration. That is not the case with legislation signed into law. The program was part of a 2008 campaign promise from President Obama and was created with the help of former White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park.