Since the IT industry plays such an important role across so many sectors of the U.S. economy, it has direct influence over our nation’s ability to innovate, grow and create sustainable jobs. Not surprisingly, then, federal policy-makers want to know what they can do to help expand our industry. While these efforts are often well-intentioned and sometimes quite helpful,[...]

The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means is continuing its work to develop a consensus on tax reform. Last month, chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and ranking member Sandy Levin (D-MI) announced that 11 committee working groups would be formed to develop discussion drafts on various aspects of tax reform. Just last week, one of these working groups issued a Discussion Draft[...]

With the re-election of President Obama, a net one seat pick-up for Senate Democrats, and with Republicans maintaining control of the House, we can expect to see some of the same IT issues emerge during the lame duck and the 2013 legislative session that we saw in the last Congress.  First, the issue of cybersecurity reform emerged as a post election lame duck issue. [...]

Last summer, Congress passed the Budget Control Act (BCA) in order to raise the debt ceiling. The BCA dictated that in the event that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which was created by the legislation, was unable to find $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, then across-the-board cuts, or sequestrations, would be triggered. The Committee failed to find the[...]

On September 26^th, in partnership with the Illinois Technology Association (ITA), CompTIA launched its second TechVoice Chapter in Illinois. The official kick-off, which was also co-hosted by the Partnership for a New American Economy, took place at the ITA offices in downtown Chicago. The aim of this first gathering was to introduce the 65 attendees to a[...]

Earlier today, the White House issued a letter addressed to Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, signed by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. The letter states “the President is determined to use existing executive branch authorities to protect our nation[...]

As we have been reporting, the Republicans and Democrats both held their conventions and formalized the nominations of President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.  While we would have liked to have seen additional focus on the tech sector and policies to ensure it remains globally competitive, CompTIA had a significant presence at each convention.  [...]

It’s been a whirlwind of political activity for CompTIA’s staff these past two weeks. This week, we joined the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte to spotlight the contributions of innovation to our economy.  We’ve been working on-the-go to ensure that the views – and contributions – of the tens of thousands of small and medium sized tech companies and entrepreneurs[...]

This election cycle CompTIA has joined several of its tech association peers and several IT company sponsors in hosting receptions in Tampa and Charlotte honoring the contributions of innovation to our economy. Our objective is to continue to highlight to policy-makers the diversity of the industry and the fact that it is driven not just by large OEMs and service providers[...]

A look at the week of August 28 in public advocacy for the IT channel: Michelle Obama announced in Florida last week that 2,000 businesses have trained or hired more than 125,000 military veterans and spouses, exceeding the White House goal of 100,000 for 2012, says the Associated Press. Federal regulators warned yesterday through a statement that our existing federal[...]