A Technology and Innovation Agenda for 2017

[Commentary] In the software industry, programmers continuously revisit a program to clean it up, debug sections, and simplify the lines of code. We need to do the same for government. We need to debug the bureaucracy. Broadly, the next administration should:
Upgrade the executive branch;
Keep the Internet free and open by refreshing the Federal Communications Commission;
Help cut the red tape in broadband deployment;
Reform the Universal Service Fund;
Free up the spectrum market;
Troubleshoot the tax and regulatory system;
Support entrepreneurship and reform R&D spending; and
Educate the next generation of STEM workers.
No one single change will do all of the heavy lifting, nor is this an exhaustive list, but together these policies would help reboot the government and allow the next generation of workers, consumers, and companies to succeed in the quickly advancing economy.

[Will Rinehart is the director of technology and innovation policy at the American Action Forum.]