Milwaukie, OR, U.S.A. - Milwaukie, OR based ECD, a leading provider of thermal profiling equipment used in the electronics, baking, and solar industries, announced that Grant Peterson, V.P. of Marketing & Sales, recently traveled to Washington, D.C. where he met with Oregon Senators Merkley and Wyden, and First District Representative Wu on behalf of the company.

The visits, set up and coordinated by the IPC electronics industry trade association, were in response to the urgent need to make the R&D tax credit for businesses permanent, enabling companies to take the leap of investing in long-term development activities. These R&D efforts result in new product innovation, new revenues, and additional employment for the local area. The visits took place during IPC's annual Capitol Hill Day, making it a nationwide effort as individual IPC members spoke with their respective senators and representatives at the federal level.

Peterson stressed that this tax credit, which is dollar for dollar, and includes such things as credit for scrap generated in the research and development process, has been renewed every year for over ten years in a row, but never made permanent. According to the IPC, for every day in which the credit has not been renewed high tech industries, including the electronics industry, lose 45 million dollars and 330 jobs. This is a startling statistic, but understandable in the context of this current economy. Companies no longer wish to invest hard-to-come-by dollars in projects that will take several years without the guarantee of receiving these tax credits.

According to Peterson, the visits with elected officials and their staffs seem to have been successful. "I think the legislators now really understand the numbers involved in not making the credit permanent. Both Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are behind this, as is David Wu. Senator Wyden is already a co-sponsor, and Representative Wu indicated he will add his name, as we believe will Senator Merkley. We definitely appreciate their strong support."

All three legislators indicated they are also willing to support requesting that the Department of Defense use funding already in place to do a study that would not only illuminate the current state of the electronics industry, but also show the necessity of keeping it healthy here in North America. "We must do that in order to ensure that only the most reliable parts and practices are used in mission critical applications such as space shuttles, guided missiles, and defense systems," Peterson stated. "We want our armed forces to have the equipment they need, and we want to guarantee that it will work. There are many counterfeit parts and products being made overseas and supplied to this country, creating a threat to our defense reliability. Only a strong U.S. electronics industry can prevent dependence on unreliable sources."