Anna Eshoo: “the issue of competition is one that is lived out and dealt with daily in my congressional district, Silicon Valley. As…”

“the issue of competition is one that is lived out and dealt with daily in my congressional district, Silicon Valley. As this resolution states, high-tech industries drive economic growth around the world. Every day my constituents tell me that the United States is falling behind our competitors in Europe and Asia. This resolution identifies some of the challenges for U.S. competitiveness. But this is not enough. The resolution is not binding. It does not set into motion any legislative action to address the key issues relative to competition. One of the top issues in Silicon Valley today is stock options. Broad-based employee stock options plans drive innovation and competitiveness. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation I authored with Rep. Baker to protect employee stock options almost a year ago, but the Administration has refused to lift a finger to get this bill through the Senate and to the President's desk. For many, many years the high-tech industry has begged Congress to make the R&D tax credit permanent. It hasn't happened. What has happened is a decline in investment and a diminishment of innovation. The President has said that the U.S. should have universal broadband access by 2007. We've yet to see the Administration's plan for achieving this. Today the United States has fallen to 16th in broadband penetration, down from 4th in 2001.…”