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Washington, D.C. — National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley today supported legislation to allow the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to spend an additional $129 million of its revenue on salaries and expenses in fiscal year 2010.

The language is contained in a supplemental appropriations measure, H.R. 5874.

“With this funding, PTO will be able to hire staff, pay overtime, improve IT infrastructure and further long term goals. The alternative could be employee furloughs, reductions in force and delays in the processing of patent applications needed by job-creating enterprises,” Kelley wrote in letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.).

Kelley asked Congress to support the proposal by the Obama administration that would provide this deficit-neutral mechanism to ensure that businesses’ ability to innovate and create quality jobs is not hindered by stalled patent and trademark applications at PTO.

In addition to the letters from President Kelley, NTEU joined a coalition urging Congress to support this action. Along with the Intellectual Property Association, the International Trademark Association, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the union asked Pelosi, Reid, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to allow PTO to reinvest these collected fees and improve its service times.

“[PTO] has taken important steps to increase production and collect additional revenues through user fees,” the organizations wrote, adding that in order for PTO to continue the progress it has made, it is imperative that the agency have access to this revenue.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including more than 2,300 employees at PTO.