Be on a panel about immigration which i did this morning and this afternoon im going to fly fun so far. Host what was your role in the panel and what was your point of view . Guest well the problems with our immigration system and everybody sees it from the situation they are in so the Technology World that people that got their ph. D. In to start a company here but that doesnt any sense. For the farmer you see that your migrant farmworkers dont have their papers and you are going to have to file under and if you are chucking crabs in maryland you see that the season is going to be destroyed because you dont have workers so the whole thing is a mess and i have hopes that we will have a reform effort that is really top to bottom and bipartisan. Host representative lofgren you represent a lot of highTech Companies in Silicon Valley. What you hear from them and what do you see as the solutions to these problems . Guest its not so much in h1b problem. Im not suggesting the h1b program should be repealed. It does need reform. Does have structural problems that can lead to underpaying immigrants to the detriment of the american coworker but the real answer is permanent residents. We are competing on a worldwide stage and if you have got some hotshot that just got his ph. D. In Computer Science from stanford, she is getting offers from all over the world and to say you can stay in some limbo for six years is not really competitive. So what we want to do is for people we want to have stay here , to create jobs, and thats not just in the tech field. Its throughout the economy. You need to make it easy for people to stay and start businesses and grow american jobs to help our economy recover. Host what is the atmosphere and the climate for potential Immigration Reform in congress and perhaps the administration . Guest on the democratic side we have been working on Immigration Reform for quite some time. We. We have not had that enthusiasm on the republican side, but here is the deal. In november mitt romney lost badly and part of the reason why was because he got under 30 of the vote among the asian voters and under 30 of the votes among latino voters and analysts have devised that is partly because of the republican posture on immigration. So really, the Republican Leadership needs to think do they ever want a republican president again because these are the Fastest Growing demographic groups in the country. It so they have to join us and do Immigration Reform. We are happy to compete for voters on some other subject. Lets come together, reform the system that needs it so much for the good of our country. Host glenn this is a priority for the dash goes. Guest its something ive been working on for a long long time and i just there is a decision that the Republican Leadership needs to make. I cant make it for them, but i am hopeful that they will decide this is a good thing to put behind them and they know that we can Work Together to make it so. Host representative zoe lofgren what else do you hear from your constituents in the Silicon Valley area about washington and . We have heard from some people that its two different worlds. Guest its interesting because in the bay area there arent very many republicans. I mean there is not a single Republican House member in the bay area and there is not a single republican in the state senate or the state assembly. Anybody that has to identify their party as a democrat and that reflects the constituency, not just the elected officials. So when i come home people can understand what republicans are doing and i find it difficult to explain it. [laughter] you no, its an area that supports freedom. It doesnt want to manage somebody elses religion are somebody elses life. Its an area they voted to tax themselves we could have Better Health care and better schools. They look at washington and dont understand the fight in a lot of ways. Host specifically when it comes to Technology Related issues, do you hear anything that your constituency wants . Guest there is concern about innovation and the role that the current law has in the area in stifling innovation. That is difficult to remedy. We had a bill that i ended up not voting for last year having worked on it for 12 years that really didnt do what we had hoped it would do. We have got an overarching scheme on copyright enforcement that is probably not that positive in terms of technology innovation. I am sure you all remember the sofa brouhaha last year. We stop the overreach from the copyright board that the im not talking about the companys. Im just talking about individuals who are inventing things and creating things feel that there is a problem in terms of the copyright regime and we come together and make sure that it works in the internet age. That something id like to work on and i will be introducing bills. I dont know if they will pass the first session of congress but a lease to get the discussion going. Host when you walk around here at ces do you see a lot of your constituencies . Guest oh sure. Ive run into a lot of people already that i know in one of the people Walking Around said do you want to go go to go to xyz company from your district . I say i go companies all the time. This afternoon im going outside the hall to another hall to visit the startups including in to see whats coming out of it. Host and, they couldnt afford the rent here . Guest yeah so they have the tiny booth in the start of ideas and in a couple of years some will be able to afford to be in this hall. Host representative zoe lofgren from california. This is the communicators on cspan. And ces international is held every year in las vegas. Its one of the largest trade shows in the world, about 100,000 people attend this every year. Is focused on technology. The communicators is here doing in interviews and looking at some of the new technologtechnolog y. Here some are of our programming. Former congressman tom davis what are you doing out here in nevada . Guest i am out here with deloitte and speaking at one of the conferences here and trying to enjoy the show. Host what is deloitte . Guest deloitte is a Accounting Firm and Consulting Firm the largest leading Consulting Firms professional Services Firms in the country. Host since you retired from congress is that what you have been doing . Guest that is what ive been doing, doing consulting. I have got a couple of members talking about the fiscal cliff and to talk about what is happening or not happening in washington and he tried to let people understand why why its the way it is. For people who dont understand how washington works, sometimes we try to do demystified for them. Host tom davis is there particular angle to legislative policy when it comes to Tech Companies such as we are seeing out here at ces . Guest they are conflicted because they tend to be on the social side, the social issue side with more of the democratic policies on and abortion and gun rights. Doesnt mean we are urbanized but on the Economic Policy obviously its very free trade and is not a union type of operation or more marketoriented on this. They are conflicted between the parties on this so the politics in the bay area is the predominant force for peoples political alignment. In my area i had a huge tech corridor out there a little bit different in the regulatory issues and the like so i think they are conflicted like everybody else. The tech workers tend to be a little bit more obama than romney but its a swing vote once you get away from the circle of issues. Host when it comes to your service in congress, did you push tech issues at all . Guest absolutely i push them. I did a lot of legislation that area. People were afraid to touch it because it was the tort liability and were afraid to make corrections because of something went wrong and they improve the product we could have liability. There was limited liability in place there and i was one of the cosponsors for a bill we had on shareholder derivatives if we protected these companies from those lawsuits and innovative companies, we could get into some of the property issues, intellectual property issues and Government Procurement issues. Government is not a very efficient procurement technology. I wrote the last cybersecurity law that goes to Congress Called fisma federal Information Security act and i was a chief author that so i was a prolific legislator in those areas. Rochkind across party lines. Host . Host speaking of the Government Procurement process, does it work currently especially when it comes to technology . The problem of Government Procurement, will give an example combat put an addition on my house about a year ago and i didnt have to worry about advertising it. I didnt have to worry about Small Business set asides or minority setasides and didnt have to worry about protests and i got it done efficiently and it works pretty quickly. Didnt have to worry about the buy america acts. All these bells bells and whistles that try to basically look at other Government Policies as a procurement part of that instead of just looking at getting the cheapest goods for the cheapest price for the taxpayer. As a result of that its a very efficient way to pick your goods because we said too many Public Policy goals within the procurement system. So the answer is it doesnt work very well. Host is there one set of Technology Tools that the government uses in each departments . Guest that is one of the difficultdifficult ies that policies arent always congruent and agencies have their own stove pipes and they dont there is no entered connectivity between Government Agencies and creates a lot of inefficiency. In the office of management and budget should be overseeing these issues and refereeing between the different agencies but even within agencies people are procuring different systems that dont integrate very well and as a result of that we spend billions repairing them and billions of dollars sometimes doesnt repair them. Its a major bureaucracy the way that the people work in their own legacy systems. They dont coordinate with anything around them. We do the same thing that the government the incentives to save money. You dont get the benefit. It goes to ever spend their budget somewhere else. The incentives and government dont make it very efficient without somebody at the top coming down hard on them and saying for the good of the order over seeing the games. Host but isnt it up to congress to make the system, to create the loves . Guest heaven help us if you leave to congress that the the executive branch thats failed to do that. The executive branch has the authority within it to do that should it choose to do so. One thing the legislative branch could give the executive branch is reorganization authority. Were president reagan had it. Peaked reorganized the way he wanted to you have to bring the congress for an upordown vote without an amendment because when congress cant amend that you get these jurisdictional battles and you end up with the department of homeland security. You design a thoroughbred and you end up with the three homes camel at the end of it. Host is the nature of government. It operates openly and transparently. The bigger your budget the more powerful you wired. The business is the opposite. You can make a quick fast decision. You can make a lot of mistakes with this and you can make a lot of decisions. In government you tend to put off those decisions. Host tom davis used to chair the Government Affairs committee. Right, government and oversight. Host and he represented also a tech area Tysons Corner in virginia. Does congress understand technology . Guest some members. People like darryl issa who are profusely efficient and area. He built his a tech company and made hundreds of millions of dollars. Aces like the population as a whole but understanding the technology and how to use it is different than understanding its applications and understanding Government Policies that will encourage innovation and encourage efficiencies versus policies and disparate intellectual policy rights. Congress coming down one way or the other could have a huge effect on discouraging innovation. Tax policies can encourage or discourage innovation. Our immigration policy right now where someone comes over and gives a ph. D. In the kick them out of the country and make them go to their own country where they compete against this doesnt make since when the people who know the way the world works. Congress could do a lot and you dont have to be efficient on your iphone or black very to understand the application to touch policy and what makes it work and what doesnt make it work. Host what is your area of expertise . I do a lot of the i. T. Area and also even if you have the right policy and government making it work basically is very tough. The implementation of that if you will very difficult. We take a look at what the policies are and make them highly integrated to make them work. We are the largest merger and acquisition firm in the world in terms of advisory and we bring that to our government so when you are trying to get efficiencies and trying to accomplish the same goals with less people and fewer dollars those are the things we excel at that as i said before that sometimes the incentives are government are such that y. Would i do that . I have fewer people in my budget goes down or i know company that has software that basically Test Software much faster, 10 times faster than government currently does it but he dont need the people to do it. You can test quicker and faster but the managers say what does this do to my people and how do i protect them . A different set of incentives in the private sector does because of the monopoly so change comes hard. Host over the past couple of years we have seen google and facebook and their Washington Offices grow exponentially. We did an interview with the executive Vice President of samsung earlier here at ces and he mentioned that they have one person in washington. Would you recommend to a panasonic or a sony that they beef up or keep their Washington Offices strong . Guest microsoft didnt have much of the Washington Office and until all of a sudden the feds came after them on antitrust issues. You get the sec going on Something Else some in Congress Passes some longer hold business goes out the window and they recognize, some Companies Need that but the reality is that today there are so many conflicting interests that somebody if they happen at antigen washington will write the rules to benefit them and that can undo your business plans. So yeah i would say to sony Even Companies that come out of countries that dont have that kind of tradition, we are a full democracy where lobbying is embedded in the constitution. These countries are little bit different so they are a little late to the party on some of them. Google has been successful. They have learned the hard way that if you dont have that washington presents and the tendency of a lot of these tech we dont need the government let us just innovate on our own. That is great in theory but all of a sudden the rules change in your out the window. Host what do you miss about congress . Guest very little. I had a lot of good members that the dysfunctionality right now im a lot happier on the outside i left voluntarily and i left undefeated and unindicted which is away want to leave a place. I was termed out as Committee Chairman and ive been in leadership for two cycles and three cycles as Committee Chairman and Ranking Member and a sub of any chairman. Host you ran the Congressional Campaign successfully to times. Guest thats a pretty good run so its time for me to do Something Else. I didnt get potomac fever. Potomac fever where people have to stay in washington and the only known cure for potomac fever is i was ready to do Something Else. I respect the people who have stayed there trying to make the most of the difficult situation but its time to move on and do Something Else. Host this is the communicators on cspan and we have been talking with former republican congressman tom davis host up next on the communicators an interview with the ceo and chairman of panasonic north america. Now on your screen as joe taylor who is the ceo and chairman of panasonic north america. Mr. Taylor we are here in las vegas at ces international. What products is panasonic debuting . Guest peter first, thanks for having me and second the interesting thing about what we are doing here today is not just introducing some new Consumer Electronics but really rolling out the new image of panasonic globally and that is a company that is almost 100 years old, 100 billion it has a portfolio product far beyond Consumer Electronics. Host such as .