Tech Industry Smells Success in Republican Congress
URL:http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-congress.html
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:51 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican-controlled Congress could spell success for the high-technology industry, lobbyists said on Friday, as tech-friendly lawmakers ascend to key leadership positions in the Senate.
With Republicans in the driver's seat after Tuesday's elections, tech firms can expect a sympathetic ear on a wide range of issues from free trade to taxes to stock options, lobbyists said, while Bush administration officials will likely face less scrutiny over efforts to relax media and telecommunications regulations.
Little change is expected in the House of Representatives, which Republicans have controlled for the past eight years, but the agenda in the Senate is likely to shift significantly, lobbyists said.
Democratic leaders in the Senate have generally been sympathetic to the technology industry, but many committee chairmen and rank-and-file members have not rated so high on lobbying-group scorecards.
Perhaps the biggest change will come in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, where Arizona John McCain will take the gavel from South Carolina Democrat Fritz Hollings. Hollings alarmed many in the industry earlier this year by promoting bills that aimed to boost Internet privacy, and require electronics makers to include copy-protection technologies in their products.
Though neither bill made it into law, tech executives faced often-hostile questioning from the octogenarian Hollings and other members of the committee.
``To know that a very powerful committee chairman is not going to make our lives miserable with hearings and markups is generally a good thing,'' said Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president of government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents high-tech firms like Amazon.com and Sun Microsystems.
McCain, who chaired the committee for six years before the Democrats took control of the Senate last year, is expected to take a more tech-friendly tack. McCain did not support Hollings' copy-protection bill, and has offered a privacy proposal of his own regarded as less onerous by business.
But privacy could emerge as a hot-button issue next year, thanks to Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who is slated to head the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. A staunch privacy advocate, Shelby could seek to insert new privacy protections in a credit-reporting law that will come up for reauthorization next fall.
``Senator Shelby is the keystone in the arch of everything that's going to happen in privacy as far as I'm concerned,'' said Robert Cresanti, senior vice president for global policy for the Business Software Alliance. ``It's going to be difficult.''
Any new privacy standards crafted for the banking sector will likely have broad ripple effects because financial services represent such a large chunk of the economy, Cresanti said.
Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the pro-privacy Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the change of power would not have much effect on the privacy debate.
Many proposals the group opposed, such as ``smart'' drivers' licenses, have been sponsored by Democrats, while conservative Republicans have often been staunch privacy advocates, he said.
``We're going to have a lot of work to do, and it's really too early to tell,'' Hoofnagle said.
In the House, term limits will require North Carolina Rep. Howard Coble to relinquish control over the Courts, Internet and Intellectual Property subcommittee. However, both Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Rep. Lamar Smith, who are vying for the post, are regarded favorably by the high-tech industry. |
