---
title: "Congress Needs to Fix the Helium Program Now"
summary: |-
  Unless Congress acts soon, the Federal Helium Program will begin shutting down on October 1.
date: "2013-09-25"
issues: ["Manufacturing"]
authors: ["Joe Kennedy"]
content_type: "Op-Eds & Contributed Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2013/09/25/congress-needs-fix-helium-program-now/"
---

# Congress Needs to Fix the Helium Program Now

Because of its unique traits, helium is used in a variety of scientific and industrial processes including semiconductor production, optical fiber manufacturing, and magnetic resonance imaging. Unless Congress acts soon, the Federal Helium Program will begin shutting down on October 1. If this happens a valuable federal resource will lie unutilized and 42 percent of current domestic supply will disappear at a time when the helium market is already experiencing shortages.

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2013/09/25/congress-needs-fix-helium-program-now/*