High Technology

By Anna G. Eshoo

I'm proud of creating a universal standard for businesses to accept digital signatures for e-commerce, leading the effort to eliminate export restrictions on encryption technology and high-speed computers, and ensuring our limit on H1-B visas gives the technology industry access to a sufficient amount of highly skilled employees. This work enhances people's lives and helped to expand our economy, both regionally and nationally.

I believe widespread, affordable broadband access to the Internet will help America's economy return to long-term prosperity. I've cosponsored legislation to provide tax incentives to stimulate rapid deployment of broadband service to rural, low-income and residential areas that still do not have access to this technology. I've also pushed for short-term, accelerated depreciation for new investments in information technology to be a component of any economic stimulus bill passed by Congress.

Our children must be literate to be successful in the information economy. During the 106th Congress, I fought hard to save the E-rate program to provide discounts to public schools and libraries for telecommunication services, Internet access and internal networking. I also pushed for full funding for critical information technology programs in the bipartisan Education Reform bill signed into law by President Bush.