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Tech Firms Ready Trade Lobbying Effort
by Bara Vaida
As Congress returns from its spring recess this week, the high-tech sector is poised to launch an aggressive lobbying strategy urging the Senate to pass presidential trade-negotiating authority before the Memorial Day break.
Spurred by President Bush's call for the Senate to pass the measure by April 22, the U.S. High-Tech Coalition on Trade Promotion Authority, which encompasses 17 high-tech associations, has begun a letter-writing campaign. The campaign will be followed by CEO visits and phone calls, as well as face-to-face meetings with lobbyists to underscore how trade promotion authority (TPA) could help businesses in the senators' home states.
"From between when we return from recess, on the 8th, until the 22nd, we are going to do as much as we can to increase the volume on [passage] of TPA, said Cynthia Johnson, co-chair of the High-Tech Coalition and Texas Instruments' government relations director.
Campaign Timing Was Finally Ripe
Until last week, the coalition had been uncertain about the timing of its campaign because of a dispute between Senate Democrats and Republicans over whether to link TPA with trade adjustment assistance. TAA is designed to help workers hurt by trade deals, and Democrats would like to expand the program to include health-care benefits, an idea opposed by many Republicans. The dispute has resulted in months of delays and has not been resolved. Bush made no mention of TAA in his speech calling for trade negotiating authority to be voted on by April 22, but Senate Democrats remain resolute that TAA be a part of a TPA package.
"We have been kind of holding our breath to see how the TAA is resolved," said Bill Maxwell, international trade policy manager at Hewlett-Packard.
The House passed TPA in December -- by one vote. Republicans had hoped the Senate would pass the House bill to avoid having to vote again on the measure. But, since the Senate TPA bill is different, Democrats have said that attaching an expanded TAA bill to TPA would make House Democrats more amenable to supporting it. Their votes may be particularly important, given that several House Republicans have said they will not vote for TPA when the House addresses it again.
"In light of recent reports that House Republicans Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher (both of California) will not support the TPA bill when it returns to the House," said California Rep. Cal Dooley, also of California, who led the drive to gain House Democrat support for TPA, "it is clear that if TPA is going to become the law of the land, the administration must respond to the substantive concerns of many Democrats and work to provide a meaningful TAA package that provides assistance for displaced workers."
The White House has been negotiating with Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee, which have oversight over the legislation, and it made a counter-offer just prior to the spring recess that Democrats rejected. A Senate Democratic leadership source said Democrats are frustrated with the White House because the counter-offer took three weeks to be delivered, and "they haven't shown much willingness to seriously negotiate with us."
Complicating the negotiations has been the negative partisan atmosphere in the Senate ignited by Democrats' rejection of appellate judgeship nominee U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering, who is a personal friend of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
Tech Stays Out Of TAA Dispute
The high-tech industry has no desire to step into the middle of the TAA dispute, because it is not a key policy issue for the industry. Ralph Hellman, vice president of government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), said the high-tech sector supports TAA but has no viewpoint or expertise on whether such legislation should include health benefits. In addition, high-tech lobbyists said they are hesitant to discuss TAA with members of Congress or the administration because they do not want to appear to be supporting either party's point of view on the legislation.
"We like trade adjustment assistance, we just don't support any particular flavor of it," Hellman said.
Just prior to recess, Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., met with ITI-member executives for an hour. Daschle assured them he wants to have a vote on TPA and that it would be taken up after the spring break. He added that he expects at least 60 to 70 senators to vote for TPA. TAA was not discussed at the meeting.
A Senate Democratic staff member said if there is not agreement with Republicans on the health-care provision in TAA, they will take it to the floor for a vote, where Hellman predicted it would fail and then "they'll have to agree to disagree" and move on without the health-care measure.
Lessons Learned From House Vote
Meanwhile, high-tech companies will press forward with news releases, letters, CEO visits and lobby a targeted list of senators who have not said whether they will support TPA. Johnson said the coalition has learned some lessons from the House vote three months ago, where high-tech lobbying failed to garner the support of Democratic Silicon Valley representatives Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren and Ellen Tauscher.
"We've refined our message with better state statistics on how this helps...and we've tried not to get bogged down in partisan battles," Johnson said.
There was some frustration within the House GOP leadership with the high-tech sector's lobbying of TPA in the House. Lobbying group TechNet, which is not a member of the High-Tech Coalition, held a fundraiser in Silicon Valley for House Democrats the week before the House vote in early December, but failed to persuade any of those Democrats to vote for TPA. House GOP leaders also pulled in high-tech lobbyists who are part of the coalition for a meeting to express their frustration with the industry for not doing more to persuade Democrats to vote for the legislation.
Brian Kelly, senior vice president of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), said his organization learned from the House vote that it is important to secure commitments from moderate lawmakers, who are likely to be the swing voters for the Senate measure, such as Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
"We also want to make sure that whatever TAA measure is attached to TPA, that it isn't something that would cause the loss of GOP votes in the House," said Kelly, whose association is a member of the coalition.
Lobbying Ready To Roll
High-tech lobbying begins as soon as Tuesday, when more than 30 executives and trade associations, including ITI, the Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are scheduled to meet with Daschle on TPA. EIA plans a CEO visit on April 17 with senators and plans to urge its member companies in various states to have its employees and executives write letters in support of TPA. Electronics trade association AeA, which is a member of the high-tech trade coalition, also plans to encourage its member companies and employees to send letters to senators. On Friday, the coalition also applauded Bush for setting a goal for passage of TPA.
One Senate Democratic leadership source expressed frustration that Bush has set a deadline for TPA but has not done so for the Export Administration Act, S. 149, which is pending in the House and also is a top business priority. The Senate passed that export measure last summer.
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