TIA

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

McCain / Obama

Comparing the Presidential Candidates' Technology Platforms

Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have developed detailed policy platforms for technology. TIA has prepared this issue-by-issue comparison as a quick guide to how the candidates differ on key issues.

All information is taken directly from the candidates’ websites (JohnMcCain.com and BarackObama.com). The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect or correspond with the views of TIA or its member companies.

Comparison Issues: (click any issue below to jump directly to it)

Guiding Principles
Tax Credits
Corporate Tax Rates
First-year Expensing of New Equipment and Technology
Internet Taxes
Government Regulation of Internet
Net Neutrality
Broadband Access
Universal Service
Nationwide Public Safety Network

Privacy Protections
Federal Support of Research and Development
H1-B Visas
Intellectual Property
Cyber-criminals
Health IT
Miscellaneous Technology Initiatives
Accessibility
Unleashing Wireless Spectrum
Free Trade Agreements

	Sen. John McCain	Sen. Barack Obama
	Guiding Principles
	Encourage investment in innovation Champion open and fair trade Reform intellectual property protection Keep the Internet and entrepreneurs free of unnecessary regulation Ensure a fully connected citizenry	Ensure an open Internet Create a transparent and connected democracy Encourage a modern communications infrastructure Improve America's competitiveness and commitment to science research Prepare all of our children for a 21st century economy Employ science and technology to solve our nation's most pressing problems
	Policy Recommendations
Tax Credits	Sen. John McCain Establish a permanent Research and Development (R&D) tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.	Sen. Barack Obama Make the R&D tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes.
Corporate Tax Rates	Sen. John McCain Lower corporate tax rate to 25 percent to retain investment in U.S. technologies. Oppose higher taxes on wireless services. Past voting record: opposed new state and local discriminatory taxes and fees on wireless services.	Sen. Barack Obama Repeal tax breaks and loopholes that reward corporations that retain their earnings overseas, and use those savings to lower corporate tax rates for companies that expand or start operations in the United States. Reform deferral provisions — ending the incentive for companies to ship jobs overseas and closing the offshore pension loophole.
First-year Expensing of New Equipment and Technology	Sen. John McCain Allow companies to expense the costs of new equipment or technology in the first year.	Sen. Barack Obama No provision in plan
Internet Taxes	Sen. John McCain Supports a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce; original cosponsor of S. 2128 & S. 156. (Source: www.congress.gov)	Sen. Barack Obama No provision in plan
Government Regulation of Internet	Sen. John McCain Favor policies that leave consumers free to access the content they choose; free to use the applications and services they choose; free to attach devices they choose, if they do not harm the network; and free to choose among broadband service providers.	Sen. Barack Obama Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices.
Net Neutrality	Sen. John McCain Oppose net-neutrality.	Sen. Barack Obama Strongly support the principle of network neutrality. Network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet applications over others.
Broadband Access	Sen. John McCain Encourage private investment to facilitate the build-out of infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet connectivity all over America. Where private industry cannot provide this because of market failures or other obstacles, McCain believes that people acting through their local governments should be able to invest in their own future by building out infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet services.	Sen. Barack Obama Deliver true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives. Redefine “broadband:” The Federal Communications Commission today defines “broadband” as 200 kbps. Obama will define broadband for purposes of national policy at speeds demanded by 21st century business and communications.
Universal Service	Sen. John McCain Use the “People Connect Program” to reward companies that offer high-speed internet access services to low income customers by allowing these companies to offset their tax liability for the cost of this service.	Sen. Barack Obama Ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure; modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well. The plan will be attractive to existing telephone companies and entrepreneurs who can bring wireless and other technologies to meet the needs of rural Americans. Continue providing universal service funding to wireless carriers that want to provide wireless services in higher cost rural areas but need universal service support to cover the cost of building towers and networks to serve rural areas.
Nationwide Public Safety Network	Sen. John McCain Create a nationwide public safety network that would support our local, state, and federal first responders by the end of his first term.	Sen. Barack Obama Develop a national, interoperable, wireless network for local, state and federal first responders. Catalyze national leadership to spur the development and deployment of new technologies to promote interoperability, broadband access, and more effective communications among first responders and emergency response systems. Use the authority over spectrum licenses to establish an effective public-private partnership that would facilitate the development of a next generation network for use by public safety agencies on a priority basis.
Privacy Protections	Sen. John McCain Foster more secure technologies and the adoption of safe computing practices to help establish a culture of greater personal security. Maintain the agility and flexibility to provide appropriate protections for users of the Internet and other technologies in an environment of effective self-regulation. An effective combination of consumer education, technological innovation, and increased law enforcement are necessary to providing personal security for Americans in the digital age.	Sen. Barack Obama Update surveillance laws and ensure that law enforcement investigations and intelligence-gathering relating to U.S. citizens are done only under the rule of law. Supports restrictions on how information may be used and technology safeguards to verify how the information has actually been used.
Federal Support of Research and Development	Sen. John McCain Push for a renewed emphasis on innovation through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) where industry and government enter into public/private projects, sharing in the cost, benefiting from solving real problems, accelerating the application of technology in the government.	Sen. Barack Obama Support doubling the federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government to one that embraces science and technology. 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. Invest in University-Based Research – strongly supports expanding research initiatives at American colleges and universities. The U.S. faces a challenge in funding younger researchers. Would provide new research grants to the most outstanding early-career researchers in the country.
H1-B Visas	Sen. John McCain Expand the number of H-1B visas to allow companies to keep top-notch talent – often trained in our graduate schools – in the U.S. The Department of Labor should be allowed to set visa levels appropriate for market conditions.	Sen. Barack Obama No provision in plan
Intellectual Property	Sen. John McCain Seek international agreements and enforcement efforts that ensure fair rewards to intellectual property. Provide alternative approaches to resolving patent challenges. Push for greater resources for the Patent Office.	Sen. Barack Obama Ensure intellectual property is protected in foreign markets, and promote greater cooperation on international standards that allow our technologies to compete everywhere. Update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated. Give the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the resources to improve patent quality, opening up the patent process to citizen review
Cyber-criminals	Sen. John McCain Support the development of technology designed to strengthen our national defense against cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism. Fully support the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-CERT) and the National Cyber Response Coordination Group, both of which exist to coordinate all federal agencies and law enforcement groups responsible for effectively responding to a nationwide cyber security threat.	Sen. Barack Obama Increase the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement budget and will step up international cooperation to track down cyber-criminals.
Health IT	Sen. John McCain Nuture technology and innovation, essential for solving critical problems facing our country, including health care.	Sen. Barack Obama Increase access to care in rural areas by promoting wider adoption of effective telecommunications and health information technologies. Invest $10 billion a year over the next 5 years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems. Phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal resources to make it happen. Lower health care costs by investing in electronic information technology systems.
Miscellaneous Technology Initiatives	Sen. John McCain Establish “People Connect Program” that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to low income customers by allowing these companies to offset their tax liability for the cost of this service. Fully fund the America Competes Act to help address these trends in education and training. Our nation’s education system should also help re-train displaced workers. Invigorating our community college system is a good place to start. Has long supported grants for educational instruction in digital and wireless technologies, targeted to minorities and low-income students who may not otherwise be exposed to it.	Sen. Barack Obama Assign a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will: Ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort, Have a specific focus on transparency Will also focus on using new technologies to solicit and receive information back from citizens to improve the functioning of government. Will also ensure interoperability of key government functions.
Accessibility	Sen. John McCain No provision in plan	Sen. Barack Obama Support the Fostering Independence Through Technology Act, which offers 21st century solutions, such as home monitoring and communications technologies, to overcoming barriers for people with disabilities.
Unleashing Wireless Spectrum	Sen. John McCain Force the Federal government to auction inefficiently-used wireless spectrum to companies that will instead use the spectrum to provide high-speed Internet service options to millions of Americans, especially in rural areas.	Sen. Barack Obama Demand a review of our existing uses of our wireless spectrum. 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.
Free Trade Agreements	Sen. John McCain Engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules.	Sen. Barack Obama Support trade policies that open up foreign markets to support good American jobs. Trade agreements should spread good labor and environmental standards around the world. Pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports.

Sen. John McCain

Sen. Barack Obama

Guiding Principles

Encourage investment in innovation
Champion open and fair trade
Reform intellectual property protection
Keep the Internet and entrepreneurs free of unnecessary regulation
Ensure a fully connected citizenry

Ensure an open Internet
Create a transparent and connected democracy
Encourage a modern communications infrastructure
Improve America's competitiveness and commitment to science research
Prepare all of our children for a 21st century economy
Employ science and technology to solve our nation's most pressing problems

Policy Recommendations

Tax Credits

Sen. John McCain

Establish a permanent Research and Development (R&D) tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Sen. Barack Obama

Make the R&D tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes.

Corporate Tax Rates

Sen. John McCain

Lower corporate tax rate to 25 percent to retain investment in U.S. technologies.

Oppose higher taxes on wireless services.

Past voting record: opposed new state and local discriminatory taxes and fees on wireless services.

Sen. Barack Obama

Repeal tax breaks and loopholes that reward corporations that retain their earnings overseas, and use those savings
to lower corporate tax rates for companies that expand or start operations in the United States. Reform deferral provisions — ending the incentive for companies to ship jobs overseas and closing the offshore pension loophole.

First-year Expensing of New Equipment and Technology

Sen. John McCain

Allow companies to expense the costs of new equipment or technology in the first year.

Sen. Barack Obama

No provision in plan

Internet Taxes

Sen. John McCain

Supports a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce; original cosponsor of S. 2128 & S. 156. (Source: www.congress.gov)

Sen. Barack Obama

No provision in plan

Government Regulation of Internet

Sen. John McCain

Favor policies that leave consumers free to access the content they choose; free to use the applications and services they choose; free to attach devices they choose, if they do not harm the network; and free to choose among broadband service providers.

Sen. Barack Obama

Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices.

Net Neutrality

Sen. John McCain

Oppose net-neutrality.

Sen. Barack Obama

Strongly support the principle of network neutrality.

Network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet applications over others.

Broadband Access

Sen. John McCain

Encourage private investment to facilitate the build-out of infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet connectivity all over America. Where private industry cannot provide this because of market failures or other obstacles, McCain believes that people acting through their local governments should be able to invest in their own future by building out infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet services.

Sen. Barack Obama

Deliver true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

Redefine “broadband:” The Federal Communications Commission today defines “broadband” as 200 kbps. Obama will define broadband for purposes of national policy at speeds demanded by 21st century business and communications.

Universal Service

Sen. John McCain

Use the “People Connect Program” to reward companies that offer high-speed internet access services to low income customers by allowing these companies to offset their tax liability for the cost of this service.

Sen. Barack Obama

Ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure; modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well.

The plan will be attractive to existing telephone companies and entrepreneurs who can bring wireless and other technologies to meet the needs of rural Americans.

Continue providing universal service funding to wireless carriers that want to provide wireless services in higher cost rural areas but need universal service support to cover the cost of building towers and networks to serve rural areas.

Nationwide Public Safety Network

Sen. John McCain

Create a nationwide public safety network that would support our local, state, and federal first responders by the end of his first term.

Sen. Barack Obama

Develop a national, interoperable, wireless network for local, state and federal first responders.

Catalyze national leadership to spur the development and deployment of new technologies to promote interoperability, broadband access, and more effective communications among first responders and emergency response systems.

Use the authority over spectrum licenses to establish an effective public-private partnership that would facilitate the development of a next generation network for use by public safety agencies on a priority basis.

Privacy Protections

Sen. John McCain

Foster more secure technologies and the adoption of safe computing practices to help establish a culture of greater personal security.

Maintain the agility and flexibility to provide appropriate protections for users of the Internet and other technologies in an environment of effective self-regulation.

An effective combination of consumer education, technological innovation, and increased law enforcement are necessary to providing personal security for Americans in the digital age.

Sen. Barack Obama

Update surveillance laws and ensure that law enforcement investigations and intelligence-gathering relating to U.S. citizens are done only under the rule of law.

Supports restrictions on how information may be used and technology safeguards to verify how the information has actually been used.

Federal Support of Research and Development

Sen. John McCain

Push for a renewed emphasis on innovation through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) where industry and government enter into public/private projects, sharing in the cost, benefiting from solving real problems, accelerating the application of technology in the government.

Sen. Barack Obama

Support doubling the federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government to one that embraces science and technology. 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.

Invest in University-Based Research – strongly supports expanding research initiatives at American colleges and universities. The U.S. faces a challenge in funding younger researchers. Would provide new research grants to the most outstanding early-career researchers in the country.

H1-B Visas

Sen. John McCain

Expand the number of H-1B visas to allow companies to keep top-notch talent – often trained in our graduate schools – in the U.S. The Department of Labor should be allowed to set visa levels appropriate for market conditions.

Sen. Barack Obama

No provision in plan

Intellectual Property

Sen. John McCain

Seek international agreements and enforcement efforts that ensure fair rewards to intellectual property.

Provide alternative approaches to resolving patent challenges.

Push for greater resources for the Patent Office.

Sen. Barack Obama

Ensure intellectual property is protected in foreign markets, and promote greater cooperation on international standards that allow our technologies to compete everywhere.

Update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated.

Give the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the resources to improve patent quality, opening up the patent process to citizen review

Cyber-criminals

Sen. John McCain

Support the development of technology designed to strengthen our national defense against cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism.

Fully support the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-CERT) and the National Cyber Response Coordination Group, both of which exist to coordinate all federal agencies and law enforcement groups responsible for effectively responding to a nationwide cyber security threat.

Sen. Barack Obama

Increase the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement budget and will step up international cooperation to track down cyber-criminals.

Health IT

Sen. John McCain

Nuture technology and innovation, essential for solving critical problems facing our country, including health care.

Sen. Barack Obama

Increase access to care in rural areas by promoting wider adoption of effective telecommunications and health information technologies.

Invest $10 billion a year over the next 5 years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems. Phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal resources to make it happen.

Lower health care costs by investing in electronic information technology systems.

Miscellaneous Technology Initiatives

Sen. John McCain

Establish “People Connect Program” that rewards companies that offer high-speed Internet access services to low income customers by allowing these companies to offset their tax liability for the cost of this service.

Fully fund the America Competes Act to help address these trends in education and training. Our nation’s education system should also help re-train displaced workers. Invigorating our community college system is a good place to start. Has long supported grants for educational instruction in digital and wireless technologies, targeted to minorities and low-income students who may not otherwise be exposed to it.

Sen. Barack Obama

Assign a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will:

Ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an interagency effort,
Have a specific focus on transparency
Will also focus on using new technologies to solicit and receive information back from citizens to improve the functioning of government.
Will also ensure interoperability of key government functions.

Accessibility

Sen. John McCain

No provision in plan

Sen. Barack Obama

Support the Fostering Independence Through Technology Act, which offers 21st century solutions, such as home monitoring and communications technologies, to overcoming barriers for people with disabilities.

Unleashing Wireless Spectrum

Sen. John McCain

Force the Federal government to auction inefficiently-used wireless spectrum to companies that will instead use the spectrum to provide high-speed Internet service options to millions of Americans, especially in rural areas.

Sen. Barack Obama

Demand a review of our existing uses of our wireless spectrum.

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.

Free Trade Agreements

Sen. John McCain

Engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules.

Sen. Barack Obama

Support trade policies that open up foreign markets to support good American jobs. Trade agreements should spread good labor and environmental standards around the world.

Pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports.

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