The U.S.
Senate today by a vote of 86-11 approved legislation sponsored by
Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Republican
High-Tech Task Force, to shorten the congressional review period for
the export of high performance computers by American hightech
companies.
"Outdated export controls are threatening U.S.
computer companies from expanding in some of the world's most
rapidly growing markets," Bennett said. "This bill will help
correct that problem and maintain America's competitive edge in the
high-tech global marketplace. An F-16 makes it to market in 30
days. It's more than reasonable that a computer microprocessor
get there in 60, rather than the 180 which current law
demands.
"Failure to reduce this waiting period means the U.S.
will essentially cede its competitive advantage to the rest of the
world. The Senate's overwhelming endorsement of this bill
sends a strong message that this is unacceptable," Bennett added.
Under current law, when the administration makes
changes to export policy governing the computing power of high
performance computers, measured in millions of theoretical
operations per second (MTOPS), Congress has six months (180 days) to
review the change before it goes into effect. The Bennett amendment,
cosponsored by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), reduces this congressional
review period to 60 days and states that the counting of those days
would not be tabulated when Congress adjourns sine die.
In 1965 Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel, made the
theoretical observation that processor performance doubles every 18
months. This theory has recently been overtaken by technological
realities. For example, from 1998 to 1999 microprocessor
performance increased almost five times. From 1997 to the
summer of 2000, microprocessors used in business computers
have increased in performance more than 17 times, from 350
MTOPS to 6132 MTOPS. The Bennett amendment will help
ensure that U.S. products do not become obsolete before they are
made available in the world markets due to governmental delays.
Foreign computer companies from Japan, Germany,
France, Taiwan and others now sell business computers comparable to
the best U.S. business computers. This legislation will
allow U.S. high-tech companies to compete on a level playing field
with their global counterparts and not be excluded from critical
markets due to burdensome waiting periods.
"The 180-day congressional waiting period is too long
for an industry, like the U.S. computer industry, whose continued
success depends in part on its ability to beat its foreign
competition to the marketplace," added Bennett.
The Bennett-Reid amendment was offered to S. 2459 the
Department of Defense Authorization Bill. The House version of the
DoD Authorization Bill includes language identical to the Bennett
bill.
Bennett's amendment has been endorsed by the
Information Technology Industry Council, the Computer Coalition for
Responsible Exports and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
