TechAmerica: Stimulus money is major focus

The No. 1 government goal of trade group TechAmerica in the coming year is assisting federal and state governments in how to wisely spend money from the $787 billion economic stimulus package. TechAmerica -- formed from the merger of AeA, the Information Technology Association of America and two other tech trade groups -- feels a responsibility to make the tech portions of the stimulus package successful. The stimulus package, pushed by U.S. President Barack Obama, includes about $50 billion in direct spending by the U.S. government, including $19 billion for health IT projects, $7.2 billion for broadband deployment, and $4.5 billion for smart energy grid projects. TechAmerica is offering its advice to state governments, which much of the money will flow through, on how to most efficiently spend the money, said Roxanne Gould, TechAmerica's senior vice president for state government affairs. For example, TechAmerica is working with Florida's state government to extend fiber broadband networks to schools currently using dial-up.