2007 NPES Government Affairs Winter Conference

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Long-time NPES Government Affairs Committee members and first-time attendees participated in the 2007 NPES Government Affairs Winter Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 14-15. The program was free to all NPES members and included a seminar on GSA Schedules Program and Marketing to the Federal Government, and several networking events.

NPES members joined about 250 other guests at a breakfast sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) that featured Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Vice President commended those in attendance for being the leaders of the vital manufacturing sector of the American free enterprise system. He emphasized that manufacturing drives the growth in the economy, gets more productive each year, accounts for the majority of U.S. exports, and by itself would be the eighth largest economy in the world.The Vice President cited five years of uninterrupted economic growth that has yielded 16% growth in GDP and over seven million new jobs.

This, he attributed in large part to the Bush Administration’s pro-growth tax policies; of particular note were reductions of the tax rate on capital gains and capital cost recovery policies that enhanced incentives for businesses of all sizes to invest. He
noted the resulting $520 billion increase in federal tax receipts in the past two years as further evidence of the efficacy of these tax policies and good reason for them to be
made permanent.

The balance of Cheney’s remarks touched on a number of specific policy areas of interest to NPES members, including: support for a permanent R&D Tax Credit, energy and trade policies to make U.S. manufacturers more competitive in the global economy, a comprehensive health care agenda of Health Savings Accounts, Association Health Plans and tax reforms designed to make health care more accessible and affordable to all Americans, and support for workers’ rights to secret ballots in elections to form unions.

NPES members also attended an NAM sponsored breakfast that featured Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), and Representatives Melissa Bean (D-8-IL), and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-11-OH). Each spoke to the important roles played by women in industry and government as old stereotypes and career barriers have fallen.

Ms. Christy Jackiewicz, Program Analyst, General Services Administration, Office of Small Business Utilization, presented a seminar on GSA Schedules Program and Marketing to the Federal Government, which featured an overview of the GSA Schedule Program, steps to getting started, benefits of the program, and marketing strategies and techniques for doing business with the Federal Government. Click here to download the seminar materials.

Conference attendees were also briefed on a range of topics including: capital formation tax policy and the prospects for tax reform, international trade issues, the Bush Administration’s Value-driven Health Care initiative, and the President’s proposal to provide a new standard deduction for health insurance. NPES Government Affairs Director Mark Nuzzaco also provided information on recent improvements to the law governing Health Savings Accounts.

The briefings concluded with a report on the activities of the Mail Moves America coalition, which was organized to counter various state “Do Not Mail” initiatives. NPES is an active participant in the coalition.

For more information contact NPES Government Affairs Director Mark J. Nuzzaco at phone: 703-264- 7235, fax: 703-620-0994, or e-mail: mnuzzaco@npes.org.

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2006 NPES Government Affairs Committee Meeting

The Government Affairs Committee met in Washington, DC February 8, 2006 to review and revise NPES’s legislative and regulatory agenda for the second session of the 109th Congress. The committee discused economic policy and tax reform; statute of repose, and other civil justice reform topics; trade policy; postal reform; rules and regulations implementing the Junk Fax Prevention Act and related issues of importance to members. For more information contact Government Affairs Director Mark J. Nuzzaco at 703/264-7235, or e-mail mnuzzaco@npes.org.