Why Congress should invest in open-source software

While those are important areas for investment, we must not forget the equal importance of digital infrastructure, especially the free and open-source software (FOSS) that is built mostly by volunteer labor and underpins the digital world. If passed, this bill would provide a $200 tax credit for expenses related to FOSS development, which would help incentivize more individuals to contribute, likely leading to spillover benefits for the state of New York similar to those from the French procurement regulation.All three of these levers for FOSS—direct funding, procurement regulation, and tax incentives—should be included in the next infrastructure bill.Although the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill recently passed by the House of Representatives includes $100 billion for increasing access to broadband in underserved communities, that only solves the problem of today—it does not lay the groundwork to solve the problems of tomorrow. The Core Infrastructure Initiative was launched in response to Heartbleed, and major technology companies like Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft donated millions to better support OpenSSL and other critical FOSS projects.