Washington, DC, October 30, 2009 – MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello met October 29 at the White House with President Barack Obama. The meeting, which included executives of small business associations and individual entrepreneurs, focused on the Administration’s health care reform proposal and its impact on small business.
"It was an honor to be invited to the White House and have an audience with the President," Palatiello said.
Palatiello, a longtime and active member of the Small Business Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has participated in similar meetings with previous Presidents. The meeting was called by the White House to assuage frayed relations with the Chamber.
"Many small business owners and executives have questions about government mandates, higher taxes and penalties for small business, how the health care proposal would be paid for, and the precedent a "public option" or government competition in health insurance, will set for other industries and professions," Palatiello said. "It was gratifying to hear the President address these issues."
"A great many MAPPS members are deeply concerned about unfair government competition with private business. Already this year, we have seen the federal government get into the banking business, the auto-making business, the car dealer business, the student loan business, and insourcing Defense contracting activities currently performed by private firms. Now the government is going to compete with private insurance companies. Small business owners are asking, ‘am I next’?" Palatiello said. "MAPPS is continuing to work with Congress and the Administration to point out the fact that a capable and qualified private geospatial community is alive and doing as well as can be expected in the current recession. We also continue to point out that the health care reform bills in the House and Senate currently lack a provision implementing a coordinated, strategic approach to GIS for health care applications," Palatiello said.
About MAPPS
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. Current MAPPS memberships span the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. MAPPS provides its 160+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement. For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.MAPPS.org.