Stimulus plan includes $100 billion for IT

A technology group identified billions of dollars in the stimulus plan for technology last week, but used the occasion to criticize the law for restricting companies receiving bailout money from hiring highly skilled foreign workers. TechAmerica, a leading technology trade association, said they estimated $100 billion in the stimulus plan would be directed to technology and would be instrumental in driving the long-term growth of the tech industry. Many programs, including broadband expansion, will need this money in order to expand.

"Technology is the driving force in the economy," Chris Hansen, chief executive officer of TechAmerica, told NextGov.com. "I think President Obama gets it. He understands technology. Technology will make our whole economy competitive."

However, Hansen and other TechAmerica executives told NextGov.com that restrictions in the law that barred companies from receiving funds if they hired foreign workers on H-1B visas are detrimental to IT. "These people create jobs, they bring capability to the country," said Josh Lamel, head of federal government affairs at TechAmerica. "The goal is to have the best and brightest here. The policy is misguided."

For more on billions of dollars available for tech:
- check out this NextGov.com article

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