; Whereas in 2013, President Obama said in reference to Israel’s contribution to the global economy, That innovation is just as important to the relationship between the United States and Israel as our security cooperation. ; Whereas, in 2014, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew said, As one of the most technologically-advanced and innovative economies in the world, Israel is an important economic partner to the United States. ; Whereas, in 2014, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 ( Public Law 113–296 ), which deepened cooperation on energy, water, agriculture, trade, and defense, and expressed the sense of Congress that Israel is a major strategic partner of the United States; Whereas the 2015 Global Venture Capital Confidence Survey ranked the United States and Israel as the two countries with the highest levels of investor confidence in the world; and Whereas economic cooperation between the United States and Israel has also thrived at the State and local levels through both formal agreements and bilateral organizations in over 30 States that have encouraged new forms of cooperation in fields such as water conservation, cybersecurity, and alternative energy and farming technologies: Now, therefore, be it