ACT Member Letter on Trade Promotion Authority bill

November 28, 2001

Members of the House of Representatives:

As high technology executives, we support the bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority bill, H.R. 3005, and ask that you act quickly to pass it before Congress adjourns. This legislation addresses several key issues that are important to the tech industry, especially for smaller companies like ours vying to compete in the global marketplace. Now is the time to open up new markets and boost the technology industry.

Our companies develop software, distribute information technology components and provide e-commerce consultancy. We utilize the Internet to sell our products and services not only across the country, but also around the world. Therefore, we are very concerned about trade policies that will impact our ability to participate in the global marketplace. While the U.S. sits by, our competitors are taking advantage of precedent-setting trade agreements negotiated and implemented by other countries.

For these reasons, the international success of U.S. high-tech companies – our nation’s top exporting industry – would be significantly enhanced by passage of H.R. 3005. H.R. 3005 includes negotiating objectives that address several key issues of importance to us including tariff elimination on high-tech products, increased intellectual property protections, and the promotion of e-commerce. Now, more than ever, the U.S. must remain a world leader in this industry, and TPA is the vehicle we need to secure that role.

We believe that the counterproposal authored by Representative Charles Rangel, (D-NY) does not offer any technology protections that are not already in H.R. 3005. Further, this bill creates overly complex negotiating objectives and a scheme of multiple Congressional votes that undermine the flexibility needed to meet our goals. The end result of this bill is a divided Congress and zero percent chance for passage of TPA this year. H.R. 3005 will put in place the structure for America’s high technology companies to aggressively compete worldwide. As advocates of free trade, and as industry executives committed to insuring our nation’s leadership in the world market, we urge you to support H.R. 3005.

Sincerely,

32X Tech Corporation, Ken Spencer, President, Lakeland, FL

Applied Information Sciences, Tom O’Connell, Vice President, Greenbelt, MD

Austral, Inc., Erik Ortega, CEO, Tulsa, OK

ComponentSource Inc., Sam Patterson, CEO, Marietta, GA

eBay, Doug Galen, Manager, San Jose, CA

Ensuredmail, Matt Scarborough, CEO, Wilmington, DE

FMS, Inc., Luke Chung, President, Vienna, VA

Foreman and Associates, David Foreman, Jr., President, Burke, VA

Harbour and Associates, Inc., Anthony S. Harbour, President, Glen Allen, VA

Homnick Systems, Joe and Maureen Homnick, Owners, Boca Raton, FL

Infragistics, Inc., Bob Wolf, Chairman, Cranbury, NJ

Incremax Technologies Corp., Kerry Gerontianos, President, New York, NY

InDepth Technology, Inc., Kevin Schuler, President, Dublin, OH

Internet Communications Technologies, Inc., Jeff Wallace, CEO, Anaheim, CA

Mettle Oxbridge, David Sarna, Manager, High Tech Practice, New York, NY

MultiWare Inc., Niall Mandal, President, Holmdel, NJ

Opus-i, Heather Davisson, CEO, New York, NY

Psaim, David Marceau, President, New York, NY

Rocketworks LLC, Paul H. Parry, CTO, Gaithersburg, MD

Rubicon Technologies, Inc., Bill Shannon, President, Reston,VA

Sax.net, Mike Sax, President, Eugene, OR

StockBridge Captital, Glen Gulyas, Managing Partner, Washington,DC

WASSCO, Arthur Wolf, President, Oak Lawn, IL

Zagat Survey, Steve Forte, CTO, New York