WASHINGTON-More than 100 members of Congress earned a perfect score on pro-technology votes in the 108th Congress, according to a group representing Silicon Valley giants and top electronics companies with a major presence in the wireless industry.
The Information Technology Industry Council evaluated House and Senate lawmakers on technology issues such as Internet tax, spam, stock options, patent reform, trade liberalization and international tax reform.
“The results of the High Tech Voting Guide are very promising,” said ITI President Rhett Dawson. “Overall the 108th Congress walked the talk with 106 members earning a perfect score on high-tech issues. “Industry is also doing a better job of communicating the importance of technology leadership to U.S. economic growth and stability and, for the most part, members are listening.”
ITI said its High Tech Voting Guide is the only technology industry scorecard on Congress and one of only two business group ratings in National Journal’s Almanac of American Politics. The results of the High Tech Voting Guide reinforced the bipartisan commitment of the 108th Congress to deliver key votes on pro-growth legislation, but there is still much work to be done.
“We look forward to working with the next Congress and administration to continue to advance the technology industry’s top priorities,” said Dawson.
Of interest this election year, ITI had Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (Mass.) with a lifetime pro-technology vote score of 74 percent in the Senate. His running mate, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) voted with the technology industry 52 percent of the time since he has been in office. The lifetime scores date back to only 1998 when ITI first began issuing its High Tech Voting Guide. The senators’ scores for the 108th Congress-0 percent and 13 percent, respectively-are based on a lesser number of votes cast as a result of their bid for the White House.
ITI said it does not rate the administration on its performance on technology issues.
ITI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, Apple, Applied Materials, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Microsoft, National Semiconductor, NCR, Oracle, Panasonic, SAP, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix, Time Warner, and Unisys.
