i3 - September/October 2017 - 12

Tech
them out of the country when they graduate. What can be done?
A We are working closely with Darrell Issa (R-CA) and others.
Today we educate somebody in America, they get an engineering
degree and then we tell them to go someplace else and compete
against us. Or if they want to stay here, the visas fill up in two
days. We need immigration reform. The current system is broken.
This is an integral part - we can tie a great deal of our immigration towards education itself. There are a number of us working
on expanding H-1Bs. Innovation and the rule of law are two major
factors that keep us ahead of other countries. Many times when
I was growing up, I heard that there was another country rising
up that was going to surpass America. It is innovation that continued to allow us to leap ahead of the others. It is in every walk of
life providing someone with a greater service, equalizing their ability to get something at a lower cost, making our technology when it
comes to the military stronger so we are freer and the world is safer.
The other thing about technology is that other countries can grab
it and that can be harmful to us. And the idea that someone craves
to be an American - if you think America is a place, then protect
it and don't let anybody in but if you believe America is an idea,
you want to foster it and make it grow. I firmly believe this country
is an idea that is different than any other country in the world.

Our current structure of our
tax code punishes people for
bringing tax money back to
America. When we fix that,
they will bring the money back.
Q How do you see tax reform playing out?
A Many of the challenges in this country

CTA's Tiffany Moore and
Gary Shapiro met with
Congressman McCarthy.

Q Who are some other tech savvy members of Congress?
A There are some on both sides of the aisle. Will Hurd (R-TX)

is very innovative in his thought. Susan Brooks (R-IN) does
a great deal. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) and I are very tight on different
items. I already mentioned Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Garrett
Graves (R-LA). It is not a partisan issue. To me, every company
is a technology company. For example, Dominos makes pizza
but they have improved their sales because their CEO invested
in technology, so now 65 percent of all orders come through
an app. Their sales have almost doubled due to technology.

Did Kevin Spacy
spend time with
you while he
was working on
"House of Cards"?

Yes, that is true, but he did not learn
how to murder anyone from me. He was
filming in Baltimore and came down
to Washington, and I was the Whip at the
time. He actually stole some lines from me.
I would say, "Vote your conscience, vote
your district, just don't surprise me." If you
watch the first year, that is actually my
office. The Whip on the wall. When Eric
Cantor and Paul Ryan met in China with the
highest elected officials and I wasn't there,
they kept asking, where is the Whip?

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

Actor Kevin Spacey, left,
and Congressman Kevin
McCarthy, conversing
during the inaugural
Kevin Spacey Foundation
gala at the Mandarin
Oriental in Washington,
D.C., in 2013.

will be solved by growth. If you take the
highest growth rate in the last eight years,
it is still lower than the lowest year under
Clinton. That is why the middle class is
hurting. That is where we can unshackle
those things that hold us back and why
tax reform is so important. I believe that
we will get the momentum and get tax
reform. We have been meeting with the
Senate, we have been meeting with the
administration - there is a lot of anticipation for this. Think of the trillions of dollars
sitting overseas that are just holding
there. Structure dictates behavior and
our current structure of our tax code
punishes people for bringing tax money
back to America. When we fix that with
repatriation, they will bring the money
back and invest in their business, they
will do R&D and they will go through new
expensing and buy machinery and other
items that make us more productive in
the end. You know what else they will
probably end up doing? Returning to
shareholders in the form of a dividend.
You'll see an economic boost rather
quickly but what we will do is invest in
America for more jobs.

Q CES is the biggest business
event in the world. We would love
to have you there.
A I would love to be there. I think it's
very important. We work on the challenges today, but if we don't plan for
the future, we won't be in such a strong
position. Every generation in America
has improved on the generation before it.
We want to make sure that we make that
commitment to make it happen. It is
an education for so many with the relationships and knowledge that you gain
especially with the policy that we are
making here. It is important to understand
the latest technology and see the future
of what is going on. I look forward to
being there next year.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

Stephanie Green/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Q Many students in the STEM area are immigrants but we kick

i3 - September/October 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - September/October 2017