House Republicans Sign E-Contract

(May 11, 2000) House Republican leaders gathered on Capitol Hill to electronically sign their new e-contract. This high tech agenda renews and updates a previous e-contract. Like the previous version, it is based on broad principles, such as less taxes and regulation, rather than specific pieces of legislation.

Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), the House Majority Leader, was the first to speak, and the first to sign the e-contract. "We take it as a heavy responsibility for us to always do legislatively those things that, on one hand, encourage, in fact, incentivize, this innovation, this creativity. And then on the other hand, we stand as the first line of defense against government intrusions, either through the form of taxation or regulation that would in some way impede this progress," said Rep. Armey.

Rep. Armey also promoted legislation to ban access charges on Internet access, to eliminate the excise tax on phones, and to increase the number of H1B visas.

Rep. Denny Hastert (R-IL), Speaker of the House, stated that "to keep the American high tech industry growing Republicans are unveiling a new contract. This contract reinforces our commitment to advancing a high tech agenda."

"The last thing we want to do is to impede our future by high taxes and excessive government regulation."

"This Congress already has a lengthy list of high tech accomplishments. We passed legislation to approve satellite competition. The House has passed a digital signatures bill. And extended the research and development tax credit," said Speaker Hastert.

He cited as future actions passage of the extension of the moratorium on new and discriminatory Internet taxes, repeal of the excise tax on phones, and approving PNTR status for China. See, full text of Speaker Hastert's address.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) spoke about three issues. He first addressed the Y2K legislation passed last year. He next promoted a bill which he is cosponsoring with Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) to promote computer security. His bill, HR 4246, The Cyber Security Information Act of 2000, would encourage the sharing of information with the government by exempting such information from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Finally, Rep. Davis discussed telecommuting, and promoted legislation to ban OSHA regulation of home offices.

Rep. David Dreier

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) stated that "the Republican Party stands for freedom, economic growth, and getting government out of the way."

"We stand for freedom. One of the most important aspects of that is economic freedom and free trade. As Dick said, we are going to, in the next couple weeks, be passing what will be the single most important vote of this session of Congress. And that is, whether or not we will pry open the market with 1.3 Billion consumers, and force the People's Republic of China to live with a rules based trading system. It is going to be a winner for our first class workers, and our businesses, because when Americans compete, Americans win. The fact of the matter is, getting our values spread throughout the repressive society that exists within the People's Republic of China is a top priority, and something which will be greatly enhanced because of the technology industry. The Internet is changing lives in the People's Republic of China."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) lauded the bill to extend the moratorium on new and discriminatory Internet taxes.

"Some people are talking a lot about the digital divide. At the same time they want to keep digging that hole deeper, keeping that divide wider. Taxes on access to the Internet are one of the most unfair repressive taxes," said Rep. Goodlatte.

"Quite frankly, for the lower income person, that is the most unfair charge of all. If you want to get people on to the Internet, and we sure do, want them to be able to get educated on the Internet, to engage in commerce and shop on the Internet, we have got to keep access costs to lower income, middle income, really, all Americans, down. We are going to do that today," said Rep. Goodlatte.

Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) spoke about H1B visas. "We know that we have the best industries in the world right now. But we don't always have access to folks who have training in specific areas. And so, for the time being, we are going to work on providing access to certain people with expertise in certain areas."

"We call this the H1B visa. Folks come in for a brief period of time. They contribute their knowledge, a particular language, or a particular field," said Rep. Dunn.

"But for the time being, within our new contract, we will support the addition of 200,000 new high tech workers under the H1B visa issue."

Rep. Bill Gooding (R-PA) addressed education. "The Education and Workforce Committee has been hard at work trying to ensure that nation has an education system and a workplace that reflects our changing and expanding economy."

He also referenced legislation to "improve the skills of math and science teachers" and for "increasing access to technology."

The Representatives who attended included Dick Armey (R-TX), Tom Davis (R-VA), David Dreier (R-CA), Jennifer Dunn (R-WA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Bill Goodling (R-PA), Denny Hastert (R-IL), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Jerry Weller (R-IL).