Lobbying
Industry Poised For Action On 'Visa Waiver' Deadline
     Travel industry groups are crafting a lobbying strategy in an effort to convince lawmakers to extend a deadline requiring key foreign allies to begin issuing technologically advanced visas in order for their citizens to enter the United States. Rick Webster, director of government affairs for the nonprofit Travel Industry Association of America, said his group and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with a dozen other trade associations representing hotels, airlines, amusement parks and other concerns, are planning a "formidable" lobbying coalition when Congress returns Jan. 20. Congress has mandated that 27 countries whose citizens currently are allowed to enter the United States without obtaining visas start issuing travel documents with biometrics data such as scanned fingerprints and digital photographs by Oct. 26. Only three of those countries are expected to meet that deadline.

Business
SEC Commissioner Sees Problems With Stock-Options Plan
     The nation's accounting-standards body is moving to change the way employee stock options are valued on company balance sheets, and that has cultivated concern in at least one top official from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Commissioner Paul Atkins expressed concern at an American Enterprise Institute event that the board is using its rule-making ability to address corporate governance issues that arose during recent accounting scandals. Executives who hold hefty stock-option packages have been accused of managing for short-term stock price gains at the expense of their firms' long-term stability. The board "should not be concerned with corporate governance issues," Atkins said, nor should they "be in the business of dictating what kind of compensation" a company offers its employees. A board spokeswoman said the board "is not engaged in a political debate" but is "focused on good accounting that will result in better information for the investing public."

Telecom
Industry Sees Little Progress On Foreign Trade Barriers
     U.S. telecommunications industry players told the Bush administration of an ongoing litany of barriers to their fair participation in foreign markets. The complaint was made in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for the annual review of countries' adherence to their telecom market-opening obligations under the World Trade Organization. China was the target of extensive comments by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which included data compiled by the U.S. Information Technology Office, a U.S. industry consortium in Beijing. Problems listed in China included standards and policies that TIA said are not consistent with the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, particularly a new encryption standard for wireless communications and electronics.

Taxes
Manufacturers Seek More Benefits In Corporate Tax Bill
     Several large manufacturers working against a House bill that would repeal a multibillion-dollar tax break in order to avoid trade sanctions from the European Union have expanded their list of demands for changes to the measure to secure more tax benefits. According to Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists, companies including Boeing and Caterpillar are crying foul over a provision in the bill authored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., that they say would grant more favorable treatment to the film industry. Thomas late last year boosted benefits for manufacturers in his bill, in large part due to the opposition campaign led by the coalition of companies that includes Boeing, Caterpillar, Microsoft and United Technologies, and frustration is growing among lobbyists who back the House bill that the companies continue to seek more benefits.

Labor
Tech Chiefs Want United States To 'Compete, Not Retreat'
     A coalition of eight top technology firms released a report on how to ensure American competitiveness in the industry. It is part of their initiative to convince policymakers that protectionist instincts must be overcome and that federal aid for technology education must be boosted this year in order to rescue the domestic industry. A chief aim of the report from the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) is to quell congressional anxiety about the transfer of U.S. technology jobs overseas. Intel CEO Craig Barrett and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina were in Washington for the launch of the report, "Choose to Compete." They also met with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, a source said. The full CSPP group of eight executives will be in Washington Feb. 10-11 for their biannual meeting. In the coming months, the coalition will meet with senior officials in Congress, the Bush administration, trade associations and think tanks.

Lobbying
Microsoft Lobbyist Outlines Firm's Policy Priorities For 2004
     Patent reform, research and development, and education are the top policy priorities for Microsoft in Congress this year, the software company's managing director for federal government affairs said in an interview. The issues overlap concerns about cyber security and homeland security, Jack Krumholtz added. Microsoft also is supporting a new anti-counterfeiting bill and is monitoring efforts to regulate peer-to-peer software and so-called "spyware" programs.

Campaigns
Rep. Turner Will Not Seek Re-Election Under New Map
     Texas redistricting will claim its next political casualty next week when Jim Turner, ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, opts not to seek re-election to Congress because a new Republican-drawn map has carved up his East Texas district. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who named him to the select panel last year, said in a statement that GOP redistricting and Turner's departure would have "serious consequences" for the country because of his defense and homeland security experience. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., would be next in line for the top Democratic spot, but GOP leaders first must decide whether to keep the temporary panel.