From the gas pump to the grocery store, every Texan is feeling the pinch of rapid inflation. Business owners and consumers alike are drowning under the pressure of rising prices, interest rates, and operating expenses. We may well be on the brink of a recession, as life becomes increasingly unaffordable for hardworking Austin families.
To make things worse, as we worry about paying bills or buying baby formula, Congress continues to focus on legislative items that not only ignore the issues at hand, but even further weaken every American small business owner’s ability to remain competitive in today’s increasingly global market – and to offer low prices to consumers.
Pending anti-innovation legislation would stymie the very technology, created right here at home, that American entrepreneurs depend on for growth and success, and shift leverage to foreign adversaries, like China and Russia, who have been reportedly deploying cyber attacks on our public and private sector entities and who would love for Congress to mandate that American companies provide them with even more sensitive data.
The stakes with China are particularly high as the Chinese Communist Party increasingly seeks to overtake the U.S. as the world’s tech and economic leader. If passed into law, these anti-innovation bills would hamstring America’s innovators, at an economic cost of $319 billion, while leaving foreign adversaries, including China and Russia, off the hook, allowing them to continue to play by their own unethical rulebooks.
More and more business owners utilize technology and digital platforms such as virtual storefronts, online booking systems, and social media platforms. These tools allow businesses to connect with their customers while online security databases protect both physical merchandise and digital data. Anti-innovation legislation will disrupt and raise costs for every business owner, present and future, during times of increased economic stress. These financial burdens will ripple across the entire, already fragile, economy, affecting millions of jobs and increasing costs for everyone.
And as tech companies relocate to Texas, bringing with them good-paying jobs and a boost to local economies, these bills could stall opportunities and reduce revenue across the state, all while giving foreign adversaries a leg up in the digital “space race” of this millennium.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs across Texas need our leaders to continue to defend Texas values — a strong business environment, American exceptionalism, and the freedom to create opportunities for others. Our domestic tech innovators underpin these values, and U.S. leadership in the tech sector is vital to maintaining our national and economic security. If we abandon this leadership through misguided policies, we, our children, and our grandchildren will pay the price.
Asheesh Agarwal is a native of Houston and a former deputy at the U.S. Department of Justice. He is an advisor to the American Edge Project on economic policy.