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Presidential Candidates Positions on Technology
About This Section
|| By Candidate
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The following positions on Tech by Presidential
Candidates was originally researched by AeA staff and taken from the
Candidates' web pages prior to Dec. 10th. Updates on positions will be
posted weekly. AeA does not endorse any individual candidate.
Updated 1/30/08 |
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Learn more about the candidates and the elections!
Barack Obama
Senator (D-IL)
www.barackobama.com
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Competitiveness |
Barack Obama supports doubling federal funding for
basic research. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the
competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st
century jobs can and will grow in America. |
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R&D Tax Credit |
Barack Obama wants to make the Research and
Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when
making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year
timeframes. Will make the R&D tax credit permanent. |
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Trade Policy |
Barack Obama supports a trade policy that ensures
our goods and services are treated fairly in foreign markets. At the
same time, trade policy must stay consistent with our commitment to
demand improved labor and environmental practices worldwide. China
fails to enforce U.S. copyrights and trademarks and that some of our
competitors create regulatory and tax barriers to the delivery and sale
of technology goods and services abroad. Barack Obama will fight for
fair treatment of our companies abroad. |
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E-Health |
Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year over
the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad
adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems,
including electronic health records. He will also phase in requirements
for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal
resources to make it happen. Obama will ensure that these systems are
developed in coordination with providers and frontline workers,
including those in rural and underserved areas. Obama will ensure that
patients' privacy is protected.
Obama will make the Veterans Health Administration,
the nation's largest integrated health system, a model in the use of
technology to modernize and improve health care delivery. To ensure that
veterans get the best care possible, he will improve electronic records
interoperability between the Pentagon and VA, expand effectiveness
research, promote wellness programs, and use technology to improve the
accountability for performance and quality.
Obama will also work to provide robust protection
against misuses of particularly sensitive kinds of information, such as
e-health records and location data that do not fit comfortably within
sector-specific privacy laws. |
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Broadband |
Barack Obama believes that America should lead the
world in broadband penetration and Internet access. As a country, we
have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and
electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise
for broadband Internet access.
Obama will ensure that every American has access to
broadband through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund,
better use of the wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation
facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan
incentives. Specifically, Obama proposes the following policies to
restore America's world leadership in this arena:
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Redefine "broadband:"
The Federal Communications Commission today defines "broadband" as an
astonishingly low 200 kbps. This distorts federal policy and
hamstrings efforts to broaden broadband access. Obama will define
"broadband" for purposes of national policy at speeds demanded by 21st
century business and communications.
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Universal Service Reform:
Obama will establish a multi-year plan with a date certain to change
the Universal Service Fund program from one that supports voice
communications to one that supports affordable broadband, with a
specific focus on reaching previously un-served communities.
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Unleashing the Wireless
Spectrum: Obama will confront the entrenched
Washington interests that have kept our public airwaves from being
maximized for the public's interest. Obama will demand a review of
existing uses of our wireless spectrum. He will create incentives for
smarter, more efficient and more imaginative use of government
spectrum and new standards for commercial spectrum to bring affordable
broadband to rural communities that previously lacked it. He will
ensure that we have enough spectrum for police, ambulances and other
public safety purposes.
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Bringing Broadband to our
Schools, Libraries, Households and Hospitals:
Obama will recommit America to ensuring that our schools, libraries,
households and hospitals have access to next generation broadband
networks. He will also make sure that there are adequate training and
other supplementary resources to allow every school, library and
hospital to take full advantage of the broadband connectivity.
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Encourage Public/Private
Partnerships: Obama will encourage
innovation at the local level through federal support of
public/private partnerships that deliver real broadband to communities
that currently lack it.
Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of
network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the
Internet. Users must be free to access content, to use applications,
and to attach personal devices. Barack Obama supports the basic
principle that network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to
privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet
applications over others.
This principle will ensure that the new
competitors, especially small or non-profit speakers, have the same
opportunity as incumbents to innovate on the Internet and to reach large
audiences. Obama will protect the Internet's traditional openness to
innovation and creativity and ensure that it remains a platform for free
speech and innovation that will benefit consumers and our democracy. |
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Education |
Barack Obama will emphasize the importance of
technology literacy, ensuring that all public school children are
equipped with the necessary science, technology and math skills to
succeed in the 21st century economy. Access to computers and broadband
connections in public schools must be coupled with qualified teachers,
engaging curricula, and a commitment to developing skills in the field
of technology.
Obama also believes that we must strengthen math
and science education to help develop a skilled workforce and promote
innovation. He will work to increase our number of science and
engineering graduates, encourage undergraduates studying math and
science to pursue graduate studies, and work to increase the
representation of minorities and women in the science and technology
pipeline, tapping the diversity of America to meet the increasing demand
for a skilled workforce.
An Obama administration will invest in human
capital to ensure that our young people have the skills to fill the
growing number of information technology jobs being created globally and
will also support pilot programs that provide incentives for businesses
to grow their information technology workforce in inner-cities and rural
communities.
The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is the right one - ensuring
that all children can meet high standards - but the law has significant
flaws that need to be addressed. Unfulfilled funding promises,
inadequate implementation by the Department of Education, and
shortcomings in the design of law itself have limited its effectiveness
and undercut its support among many people who care deeply about our
schools and our students. Barack Obama would reform and fund No Child
Left Behind. |
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Environment |
Barack Obama will invest $150 billion over the next
10 years to enable American engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs to
advance biofuels and fuel infrastructure, commercialize plug-in hybrids,
promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy and begin the
transition to a digital electricity grid. |
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E-commerce |
Barack Obama will strengthen privacy protections
for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold
government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy.
Obama will increase the Federal Trade Commission's
enforcement budget and will step up international cooperation to track
down cyber-criminals so that U.S. law enforcement can better prevent and
punish spam, spyware, telemarketing and phishing intrusions into the
privacy of American homes and computers.
Barack Obama recognizes that lurking out there are
the darker corners of the media world: from Internet predators to
hateful messages to graphic violence and sex. Obama values our First
Amendment freedoms and our right to artistic expression and does not
view regulation as the answer to these concerns. Instead, an Obama
administration will give parents the tools and information they need to
control what their children see on television and the Internet in ways
fully consistent with the First Amendment.
To further protect children online, Obama supports
tough penalties, increased enforcement resources and forensic tools for
law enforcement, and collaboration between law enforcement and the
private sector to identify and prosecute people who abuse the Internet
to try to exploit children. |
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Intellectual Property |
Barack Obama believes we need to update and reform our copyright and
patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment
while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.
Obama believes giving the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the
resources to improve patent quality and opening up the patent process to
citizen review will reduce the uncertainty and wasteful litigation that
is currently a significant drag on innovation. With better
informational resources, the Patent and Trademark Office could offer
patent applicants who know they have significant inventions the
option of a rigorous and public peer review that would produce a
"gold-plated" patent much less vulnerable to court challenge. Where
dubious patents are being asserted, the PTO could conduct low-cost,
timely administrative proceedings to determine patent validity. As
president, Barack Obama will ensure that our patent laws protect
legitimate rights while not stifling innovation and collaboration.
Barack Obama will work to ensure intellectual
property is protected in foreign markets, and promote greater
cooperation on international standards that allow our technologies to
compete everywhere. |
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HR/Workforce |
Barack Obama supports comprehensive immigration
reform that includes improvement in our visa programs, including our
legal permanent resident visa programs and temporary programs including
the H-1B program, to attract some of the world's most talented people to
America. We should allow immigrants who earn their degrees in the U.S.
to stay, work, and become Americans over time. And we should examine
our ability to increase the number of permanent visas we issue to
foreign skilled workers. Obama will work to ensure immigrant workers
are less dependent on their employers for their right to stay in the
country and would hold accountable employers who abuse the system and
their workers. |
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Video |
Candidates @ Google series: Obama speaks with CEO
Eric Schmidt, and takes questions from Google employees. Tech issues
discussed includes his innovation agenda. Nov. 14, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNt_pV2RNk&NR=1
On Net Neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-mW1qccn8k
You Tube Interview on Tech. Government tech
transparency, applying technology to problems, and other election
issues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1MGi12RspA
Fuel Efficient Autos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpYkCNohmf8 |
Back to Top
John McCain
Senator (R-AZ)
www.johnmccain.com
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R&D Tax Credit |
John McCain will reform
and make permanent the research and development (R&D) tax credit to keep
America competitive and provide a stable environment for entrepreneurs. |
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Trade Policy |
Opening new markets is a key to U.S. economic
success. Today, despite all the defeatist rhetoric, America is the
world's biggest exporter, importer, producer, saver, investor,
manufacturer and innovator. Americans do not shy from the challenge of
competition: they welcome it. Because of that, we attract foreign
investment from all over the world. Our government should welcome
competition as our people do, and not pretend that we can wall off our
economy. |
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Health Care |
Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine in areas
where services and providers are limited. |
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Education |
John McCain understands
that globalization will not automatically benefit every American. We
must prepare the next generation of workers by making American education
worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. We must be
a nation committed to competitiveness and opportunity. We must fight for
the ability of all students to have access to any school of demonstrated
excellence. We must place parents and children at the center of the
education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability
of parents to choose among schools for their children. |
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Privacy and E-Commerce |
John McCain has been a
leader in keeping the Internet free of taxes. As President, he will seek
a permanent ban on taxes that threaten this engine of economic growth
and prosperity. |
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Intellectual Property |
Washington must keep pace with this change and
develop new approaches to ensure that our ideas are protected, our
intellectual property rights are respected |
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HR/ Workforce |
We have opened our doors to the best and brightest
from other countries to seek the American dream.
We must remain committed to education, retraining,
and help for displaced workers all the while reminding ourselves that
our ability to change is a great strength of our nation |
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Video: |
Candidates @ Google: John McCain speaks about a
range of issues. Tech issues include energy, and increasing CAFE
standards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDixe_N5sE |
Back to Top
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John Palafoutas
(bio)
Senior Vice President
Domestic Policy and Congressional Affairs
202.682.4451
John_Palafoutas@aeanet.org
Marie
Lee
Director and Counsel, Finance and Tax Policy
202.682.4448
Marie_Lee@aeanet.org
Ben Aderson
Manager, Technology Policy & State Government Affairs/Counsel
202.682.4428
Ben_Aderson@aeanet.org
Alan Vazquez
Manager & Counsel, Domestic Policy
202.682.4439
Alan_Vazquez@aeanet.org
Israel Shamir
Administrative Assistant
202.682.4455
Israel_Shamir@aeanet.org
This page was last updated on
06/27/08.
Copyright © 2007 American Electronics Association. All rights reserved. |
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