The R&D tax credit is set to expire, as it does every year. I urge that we do not reauthorize it, but we make it permanent.

The first big point is that the technology sector drives job growth, and the chart that I have brought with me shows how the computer industry and the technology sector in general, first of all, it pays more. The jobs that we have in this sector on average pay twice as much as typical jobs in other areas of the economy. It also shows that the job growth, the jobs that are being created, are coming predominantly from the high-tech sector. Also, in the 10 years ahead, that is going to become even more the case. Technology is what is driving our economy, and the R&D tax credit helps that technology grow.

The second chart that I want to show shows specifically how the R&D tax credit helps. It helps because it helps increase the productivity of companies across all sectors. Because computers are a part of a company whether one is in the technology business or not, whether one makes computers or software for the Internet or if one makes airplanes or furniture or just about anything, having money for R&D helps you increase your productivity and more and better jobs. This has just some of the various sectors of our economy that have benefited substantially from the R&D tax credit that has created jobs.

That is what this is all about. We may look at these industries and sectors and think well, gosh, I do not work in the pharmaceutical industry or the computer industry, but no matter where one works in the American economy, technology touches us, and the R&D tax credit helps advance that.

I would like us to make it permanent this time instead of doing the year-after-year reauthorization. First of all, as I have argued, this is a very good program and should be made permanent, but more importantly long term planning of companies that depend on this tax credit could be greatly enhanced if they knew it was going to be there from year-to-year. They could invest even more in the R&D tax credit over the long haul, knowing that it is going to be around, knowing that every year they are not going to have to come back and try to seek reauthorization. This is a program that should be permanent because it does so much for our economy.

Technology touches on a lot of issues, the R&D tax credit being just one of them. I strongly urge that our government get in touch with high-tech issues in the high-tech industry and find out what we can do to help them. It is critical to our job growth. Technology crosses all sectors. Yes, there are the ones that we think of off the top of our heads when we think of technology. We think of telecommunications, we think of hardware and software, we think of the Internet. But just about any industry we have benefits from a better computer system, from better software, from access to the Internet. They can make better products, they can transfer that information all across the world to various segments of their business to help that business grow. This touches everything. We will not find an industry that is not high-tech.

I ran into someone from the company Kosco out in my area which sells food and various other products on a sort of wholesale retail basis, and they thought of themselves as not being a high-tech company. But they too are dependent on the computer systems that help them keep track of their inventory, that help them track their financial records, their sales records, and the faster and better those systems become, the more efficient and the more productive their business becomes. It does not matter what sector of the economy one is in. Technology affects us, and the R&D tax credit can help us have better jobs that pay more and will also help create more and more jobs for those who do not have them yet.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge this body to adopt a permanent authorization of the R&D tax credit as soon as possible for the sake of our future economic growth.