[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H321-H327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR CHILDREN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 7, 1997, the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE. I thank the Speaker very much for his kindness and I
rise today to speak about children. Sorry my colleagues have left the
floor of the House, and I appreciate their comments about a very
important issue, and that is creating opportunities for our children.
And might I say that although I will be speaking today about technology
and joined by many of my colleagues, I would appreciate a slight bit of
deference to just acknowledge that there is a disagreement when it
comes to the balanced budget amendment.
We all want to get to the same place, and that is to balance the
budget. I must add that in protecting Social Security I would bring
attention to the gentleman's comments that when you include Social
Security in the balanced budget amendment you then prohibit and inhibit
the flowing of Social Security checks to our seniors throughout this
Nation if they then have to face the burden of the balanced budget on
their backs.
So I know we will have a vigorous debate, we want to have a future
for this Nation, and I think it is key that we recognize that we might
have different perspectives, and clearly I think we should exempt
Social Security from that so that we can have an upright and a fair
discussion on this issue and, in fact, preserve a future for our
children.
Having said that, I am gratified today for the reason that I have
come, and that is to capture the spirit of the President's message, but
the work of so many of my colleagues and myself acknowledging the
importance of the access of the Internet to all of our children. So I
rise today, Mr. Speaker, to introduce a sense of the Congress
resolution regarding the outstanding achievements of NetDay, the NetDay
organization.
I, along with many Members of the House, have become acquainted with
the NetDay organization through the activity generated in our home
congressional districts by grassroots NetDay projects. I was proud to
have had the honor of joining fellow Houstonians in the kickoff of the
ceremony for the Houston independent school district's NetDay '96. I
was happy to serve as the honorary chair for that event and under the
leadership of our superintendent and our assistant superintendent for
technology, the superintendent being Ron Page, the assistant
superintendent being Dara Ann Burrow, and many volunteers, we can claim
it as a success.
Albeit a success in many of our districts, we realize that we are
just beginning, and so as a member of the Telecommunications Conference
Committee, the Reform Act of 1996 which the 104th Congress passed, I am
proud that my colleagues join together to insist that there must be
universal telecommunications access to every school and library and
classroom in this Nation.
Fortunately, for HISD, because of our program, 79,975 students now
have Internet access in the elementary, junior, and high school. I say
that it is still not enough. This was accomplished with the assistance
of 652 volunteers who contributed their time to the neighborhood
schools. The efforts of sponsored volunteers, students, teachers, and
HISD personnel saved the Houston independent school district $28,000.
With our school district's decision to hold NetDay '96 connection
projects for each Saturday in the month of October, they ensure that
every targeted school within minority and majority communities received
an equal opportunity to have their neighborhood school library receive
the necessary wiring for Internet access. With the entire Houston
community support, we can reach the goal of universal access for all of
Houston's children by the year 2000.
But we must go further than that, and we come to this Congress to go
beyond our respective constituencies and localized communities. We must
work toward universal access to the Internet. We must be vigilant in
our efforts to promote software and hardware innovations. When I talk
to my teachers, they emphasize that the infrastructure is so very
important that they need the software. We must not forget that. We must
have our children accessing material that is valuable and valued. I
have learned that there are a number of software and hardware
technologies which if employed will also block the ability of our young
users to access Web sites that may not be appropriate for them.
In addition, the use of network systems by school districts can also
provide protection for the Internet's youngest and most valid users. We
in Congress must work to provide these important protective features to
users of the national information infrastructure as educators work to
assist us in guiding our children successfully toward the 21st century
job marketplace.
That is where the work will be. Silicon Valley will not be Silicon
Valley. It will probably be Silicon Nation. And I believe that we
should not cease from searching for additional innovative ways to
protect our children as we also work to provide them with the much
needed skills for today and tomorrow. It is a fact that by the close of
this century 60 percent of the new jobs will require computer skills
that are currently held now by only 20 percent of our population. The
work we do today will pay off for our children.
From Alabama to Wyoming, the NetDay organization has many places they
can call home. In the State of Alaska the Anchorage school district
reports that 70 percent of Alaska's students wired several schools as
part of NetDay. In the State of California, the launching site for the
entire NetDay effort, over 75,000 volunteers wired over 3,500 schools
last fall.
The call that I raise up today and the call that I hope is heard: Are
you listening throughout the Nation and can we do any less? Well, in
the State of Texas a hundred schools were wired. Most of them were in
the city of Houston. We obviously need more activity in the entire
State of Texas as well as all over America.
It is evident from our first NetDay year that States have gone at
varying degrees of success in their NetDay efforts. We still have a lot
of work to do before every school is connected to the Internet. As a
parent and a Member of Congress, I will continue to work toward a safe
and secure Internet environment in which we can provide educational
opportunities for our children.
That means, and we must get a little direct here, I do not think any
of us would claim any opposition to the first amendment. I hold myself
out as someone who vigorously defends the freedom of speech, but I can
assure you I
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will go a long way to working toward ensuring that we deny the
proponents of pornography and obscenity the access to our children who
are using the Internet.
I believe this important resolution that I offer today, hopefully as
my colleagues have joined me in cosponsoring it, will go a long way in
communicating the important role that NetDay plays in our Nation. This
NetDay organization is promoting friendship and cooperation. It is
certainly promoting the opportunity for all of us to work together.
{time} 1545
It is important as well that we provide access to the superhighway.
As we do that, it will be good that we as Members of the House of
Representatives can show wholehearted support for the NetDay
organization which has provided and should provide access for all
children, rural, suburban and urban, regardless of whether they are
poor or well off.
Yes, NetDay has proven it is possible to be inclusive when
implementing public and private partnerships of this magnitude. I would
like to thank my colleagues who signed on as original cosponsors of
this resolution, and I thank you for your commitment to our Nation's
children and I look forward to your great participation in what we do
further.
Besides applauding and congratulating those who have participated in
NetDay, emphasizing the grassroots aspects of providing elementary
children and middle-school children with access to our computers, with
applauding those who have given labor and materials and resources, and
encouraging parents to be part of this, we also resolve in this
resolution to do several things. That is, of course, to congratulate
the organizers and sponsors and coordinators and volunteers of NetDay.
Also, NetDay should be used as a positive model for communities
throughout the Nation. NetDay should continue to be used to assist
students and parents and teachers across the Nation so that the
Nation's children may be ready to obtain the benefits of computer
networks and the Internet. We are resolving to strengthen their
education and begin careers with more skills and opportunities, thus
enabling them to compete more successfully in the global market. And
then we resolve that businesses, unions, parents, teachers and school
employees throughout the country should consider organizing NetDay
activities to provide similar opportunities for the children in their
communities.
The House of Representatives supports NetDay's commitment by way of
providing the Nation's elementary and secondary schools with the
technology, the technological infrastructure needed to help the
Nation's children succeed.
Interestingly enough, we captured the spirit of the President's
remarks, but I will applaud him for acknowledging last evening that we
must bring the power of the information age into all our schools. He
said, last year I challenged America to connect every classroom and
library to the Internet by the year 2000 so that for the first time in
history a child in the most isolated, rural town, the most comfortable
suburb, the poorest inner city school, will have the same access to the
same universe of knowledge. I ask you to support and complete this
historic mission.
I am very gratified, Mr. Speaker, that there are those who have
worked long years in this area and certainly come from communities
where technology is a key element of their representation.
So I have been joined on the floor today by my colleague on the
Committee on Science, the gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella], who
has served very ably in trying to network herself and provide the kind
of synergism and energy in generating the technological infrastructure
that we need not only for our children but for all Americans, but I am
gratified that she knows that the emphasis of accessing the Internet on
behalf of our children is a key responsibility that we have in the U.S.
Congress.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella].
Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for
yielding, for arranging this special order, and for sponsoring this
very important sense of Congress resolution to recognize the
outstanding achievements of NetDay.
Mr. Speaker, every child in America deserves equal access to a
quality education. Providing this access can be a real challenge in the
midst of tight budgets, especially in small, rural and poor inner city
schools. Every child and every school across the country must be
afforded the opportunity to take advantage of everything the
information highway has to offer.
Now, during the last Congress, I worked to include in the
Telecommunications Act language that would provide schools, libraries,
and rural health care facilities with affordable access to the
Internet. The Federal, State, local joint board which was set up by the
Federal Communications Commission has already recommended substantial
discounts for public and nonprofit schools.
In conjunction with our work in Congress, thousands of volunteers
also have joined together to wire our Nation's public schools to the
Internet. NetDay is an exciting grassroots effort to ensure that all of
our schools have access to the Internet.
Most schools just simply cannot afford advanced telecommunications
services. Last year, less than 3 percent of classrooms in the United
States had access to the Internet. By making access to schools
affordable, and through the efforts of thousands of individuals and
dozens of corporations, schools all over the United States are being
afforded the opportunity to become wired to the Internet. In our great
Nation so rich in information, we can no longer rely on the skills of
the industrial age.
Telecommunications will excite young minds and provide all children
access to the same rich learning resources, regardless of where they
live. Telecommunications can help us provide a level playing field for
all Americans to utilize the information superhighway. Through NetDay,
volunteers are ensuring that the emerging telecommunications
revolutions do not leave our critical public institutions, our private
and nonprofit schools, behind.
I applaud the outstanding achievements of NetDay and the tireless
work of our Nation's volunteers. Wiring our schools to the Internet is
in the Nation's best interest and will bring equity to our educational
system. Well educated and highly skilled individuals are the major
resource of any modern society, and NetDay efforts in our Nation's
communities will provide all Americans with skills that they need and
the opportunities that they deserve to achieve their fullest potential
through a quality education.
This Friday, February 7, is the first anniversary of the signing of
the Telecommunications Act, and there will be a press conference to
announce that NetDay will be held on April 19. I encourage everyone to
join the NetDay volunteer effort and help ensure that our Nation's
schools are wired. My State of Maryland will be so involved, and I
will, and I hope that all Americans will in some way be connected with
the access to the Internet.
Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas, not only for this
special order and the resolution, but her commitment, through her terms
in Congress, and I hope she will stay on the Committee on Science. We
have not totally organized, so I am not sure, because she has always
been very valuable on that.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the gentlewoman, and may I inquire
of the gentlewoman, just a very brief inquiry. It is, I think,
worthwhile as we have this opportunity to present this special order,
that though we acknowledge it in friendly terms that we are both at
least now and with party affiliation on opposite sides of the aisle.
But I think it is very important that this is acknowledged as a
bipartisan effort to really prepare us.
We have all set bridges and visions for the 21st century, and I am
sure we are all committed. But what does that actually mean? And as we
fast approach or speed down the superhighway, I think it is important,
and of course balanced budget amendments or balanced budget, that we
recognize that when people are productive and working, that is half the
battle of the economy. This access to the Internet, this learning
process, and I guess I inquire of you, is so key to preparing us
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to be steady and strong in the 21st century.
Mrs. MORELLA. There is just no doubt about it. We also know that 6
out of every 10 new jobs that will be created as we enter the new
millennium are going to involve technology and are going to involve the
importance of knowing something about Internet. We also know that our
children, from first grade on, know how to use a computer. Now, why
should they all not have access to this information? It is a library in
their school, it is a library in their own home, in the club house; it
is critically important that they have these skills. So again, I
applaud you, and of course it is bipartisan. Everybody should agree
with it.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank you for your kind words but also
for your leadership.
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you certainly
an esteemed Member of the freshman class, the gentleman from Memphis,
TN [Mr. Ford], who probably more than anyone, knows the value, having
sped fast along the superhighway himself of technology, of the
importance of sharing this very important tool to our whole Nation.
Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to join
the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] in this effort to commend
those who have participated in this NetDay 1996 and to congratulate
those for helping to build that bridge to the 21st century.
As a Member of Congress especially dedicated to youth and one that
serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, NetDay
1996 cannot have a more committed advocate than me. Let me first,
though, take this opportunity to thank our President for the
extraordinary challenge that he issued to all of America, including
Democrats and Republicans in this Chamber, last night.
I was particularly excited to hear his emphasis on education and his
calling to all Americans, including all in this Chamber again, Mr.
Speaker, a call to action, to respond to the needs of our young people
to help prepare for better and brighter tomorrow.
NetDay 1996 is this Nation's challenge to participate in the success
of our youth's lives. Every parent, teacher, clergy member, neighbor,
business leader, business employee, computer systems administrator,
every single member of society can participate and take on the
community responsibility to positively affect children's lives.
In 1996, Mr. Speaker, 100,000 NetDay volunteers installed wiring
infrastructure to connect 25,000 elementary and secondary schools to
the information superhighway. Parity and access to the Internet is
fundamental to realize the true benefit of the information
superhighway.
That is why I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, for
we demonstrated the courage and the wisdom in this Chamber to reform
welfare. I would hope that we could exhibit that same courage, wisdom,
decency, and show the same temerity in empowering our teachers and
classrooms to prepare our children for the future.
In that vein, let me applaud the success of the two Illinois students
and their classmates and teachers, brought to our attention last
evening during the State of the Union Message, for they are examples of
excellence that should be admired and replicated throughout this
Nation.
In that vein, let me also speak in support of establishing national
standards, not to create another level of Federal bureaucracy or
additional levels of bureaucracy, Mr. Speaker, but to make and
understand that education is as important a national security issue as
any issue that we confront here in this Congress. The syndrome of
inferiority and shortcoming that has beset many of our Nation's
schools, let us pledge here in this Chamber, let us pledge today to
responding to the call of action that the President issued last night
that we will transform that syndrome into an atmosphere and environment
of success, to expectations of success for our young people.
As I close, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas and thank
the cosponsors of this NetDay legislation. For there is no more
important issue to America's competitiveness as we move into this next
century, Mr. Speaker, than ensuring that every young person is afforded
the opportunity, affording the best opportunity to be exposed to the
quality education that we here in America can afford.
In that vein, I challenge every citizen to become a part of this
effort. No school should be without its own assembly of volunteers from
every hill and every hamlet. We must afford our children an opportunity
to be first in the world. Mr. Speaker, this is the call to action and
this young Member from Tennessee is ready to respond.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
from Tennessee for a clarion call. Clearly, for this to be a movement
in the U.S. Congress, leaders like Harold Ford are going to have to be
right in the mix. And clearly for this to be both accepted and
acceptable, we are going to have to reach across the barriers and the
divides of our rural and urban centers of our southern cities and
northern cities, of our communities that may be called barrios or may
be called ghettos, or may be just called places for people to live.
So I accept the challenge certainly and hope that when we begin to
talk about issues of balancing the budget, that there will be
priorities, and that is why the balanced budget discussion cannot be
done in a vacuum. This message this afternoon on the Internet is as
much about that issue as it is about making sure our children have
access to the Internet.
{time} 1600
Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the
honorable gentlewoman from Michigan Debbie Stabenow, whose State
certainly has received a great economic boon from an original
technology: the automobile.
I am very gratified that even with the importance of her obligations
to her own immediate industry and technology dealing with the people
mover, if you will, she is committed to science and technology as a
member of the Committee on Science.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I thank so much the gentlewoman from Texas
for yielding to me on this important subject, and also for her
excellent work on behalf of children, in promoting education on behalf
of children.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding achievements
of NetDay, and to endorse the resolution presented by the distinguished
Member from the State of Texas. Like my colleagues, I am committed to
seeing that our schools and libraries are equipped with the tools that
our children need for the 21st century. Today, that means access to
computers and access to the Internet.
As I have frequently said at home in the great State of Michigan,
there is more computer power today in the average gas station than the
average classroom, and that must change if our children are to succeed
in the world economy.
Unfortunately, too many schools and too many libraries do not have
the basic infrastructure necessary to link themselves to the
information superhighway. All too often the cost of wiring our public
schools and libraries is prohibitive, given the limited fiscal
resources available to the States and local governments.
For example, it has been estimated that it would cost more than
$1,000 per classroom to install the basic wiring needed to access the
Internet, in addition to the costs of purchasing computers and printers
and software, which is also estimated to be in the nature of thousands
of dollars per classroom.
Mr. Speaker, we simply cannot wait 20 years to provide the
infrastructure and the basic level of technology that our children need
to be successful. The founders of NetDay recognize this critical need,
and I salute them. They also recognize that government alone cannot
fulfill the objective, and in fact we must challenge our communities,
the private sector, the universities, the labor unions, parents. All of
us, working together, must come together in order to make sure our
children have what they need in our schools.
NetDay is a model example of the public-private sector partnership
that this administration spoke of and that I wholeheartedly endorse and
am working on behalf of. Already I am in discussions in Michigan, in
the Eighth District, with our private sector community, with our
universities, parents,
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local schools, so we too can have our children benefit from those
activities that have been created by NetDay. I am excited about this
adventure, and I pledge to act as a catalyst in my communities in the
Eighth District in Michigan on behalf of the children in the Eighth
District and on behalf of the children in the Nation.
I encourage my colleagues and my constituents to join myself, to join
the leadership here today in supporting NetDay 1997.
I appreciate very much the opportunity to address the House on this
matter. I thank the gentlewoman again for allowing me to participate
today.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from
Michigan, and I am gratified that she will be setting the wheels moving
in Michigan in helping her students.
Something that I had mentioned, and I applaud the gentlewoman again,
this is not going to be easy. Our businesses that are prosperous, that
may not be geared toward computer business directly, are really going
to have to be part of providing the resources and assisting us in
making good on our pledge.
Let me acknowledge locally a relationship that I am sure the
gentlewoman is working on where our local Bell Co. has provided lower
rates for teachers to surf the Internet for up to 100 hours a month.
One of the key points is that our teachers must likewise have the
training to be able to train the youngsters, and I have seen as much
joy in our teachers who have now become computer literate or excited or
have access, and then in their ability to teach. We must not leave that
partnership out between child or student and teacher. I hope our
business leaders will join you, as you have asked them to, in helping
you promote this effort.
Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge as well another leader in this area.
That is NetDay cofounder, Mr. Michael Kauffman. We appreciate the
effort that he is engaged in, along with Mr. John Gage, cofounders
of NetDay. They obviously had an idea that would set a spinning wheel,
a light spreading out across the Nation, and we are gratified now to
applaud them here in Congress, but also to send out their reach even
further than they might have expected.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Maryland Mr. Elijah Cummings, coming
from Baltimore in the State of Maryland and also the State legislature,
is an avid promoter of issues dealing with youth and children in his
legislative record; but coming from a State that has a strong
technological history and also a strong historic relationship with the
Federal Government, I am gratified with his commitment to educating the
inner city child, who if we abandon and leave by the wayside, ravaging
around the edges of technology, we are not doing the job of creating
opportunity for all Americans. The gentleman from Maryland, Elijah
Cummings, has already made good on that promise to help the least of
the children in our community.
I yield to the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Elijah Cummings.
Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas and I commend her on
her hard work and leadership on this as a member of the Committee on
Science and the conference committee on the Telecommunications Reform
Act of 1996.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the outstanding achievements
of the NetDay project. This past October during NetDay East, over 140
schools were wired in my home district of Baltimore City alone. A
second phase to be wired is planned for the spring of this year.
We must bring the 21st century into every classroom in America.
Technological literacy is essential to succeed in the new economy. We
must provide all students access to a computer, good software, and
trained teachers. I encourage local businesses, public organizations,
educational institutions, parents, teachers, and community members to
participate in this effort by volunteering to help link our schools to
the information highway, place computer equipment in classrooms, and
provide training.
With 40 million people currently using the Internet and 100 million
users expected by 1998, the time has come to avail our schools of this
very valuable resource. We need to come together as a Nation and focus
on the development of our children and communities. I want to stress
the importance of equipping our children with the tools to compete
successfully in the 21st century.
As we near the beginning of the 21st century, a knowledge-based
economy is emerging, what many people call the new economy. The fastest
growing industries, both domestically and globally, include
microelectronics, telecommunications, computers, and biotechnology. In
the 1950's, three out of every four Americans had manufacturing jobs.
Today, fewer than 1 in 6 do. Recent studies show that the rates of
return for industries that invest in knowledge and skill are more than
twice those of industries that concentrate on plant and equipment.
Perhaps the most important transformation brought by the new economy
is the changing nature of work for Americans. We now live and work in a
knowledge-based economy where we succeed because of what we know, what
we create, how we manage information, and how we organize ourselves to
deliver it.
By the end of the decade, 60 percent of our Nation's jobs will
require skills that only 20 percent of the existing U.S. population
has. Many of these will be technologically based. Our new concern is
not unemployment, but unemployability. With the ability to make goods
and process information, white students, but only 39 percent of
African-American students, use computers in school. African-American
students also have less access to computers at home, 36 percent of
white students are in families that own computers, while only 15
percent of African-American students have access to home computers.
Make no mistake, technology alone is not the panacea for all of our
educational system's ills, but technology is a valuable tool which,
when combined with a good curriculum and good teachers, can improve our
children's education. The continuing leadership and initiative must
come from local communities, cities, school boards, and the private and
nonprofit sectors, and it is critical that the African-American
community get involved. African-Americans need to recognize the
importance of using these technologies to improve education, as well as
to equip students with the necessary skills to perform tomorrow's jobs.
African-Americans, historically concentrated in agriculture, personal
service, and blue collar occupations, are now disproportionately
displaced in the emerging Information Age. The good news is that a few
African-American entrepreneurs are taking advantage of telecom and
information technologies. But there is still very little computer
software geared to minorities. There are still relatively few minority
firms with a presence on the World Wide Web.
I cannot overstate the importance of exposing our young people,
especially those living in traditionally underserved areas, to such
technologies as the Internet, which open a whole new world for them
which may inspire learning.
In order for the NetDay project to be fully successful, it is
imperative that minority and rural communities are involved. Now is the
time to commit to helping underserved minority schools. The longer we
wait, the wider the gap between these kids and the kids who are
technology-fluent expands. I want to thank the gentlewoman again for
her leadership.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Maryland, and particularly Baltimore, really for his strong emphasis
about being frank about many of our children living in inner city
America, particularly our African-American children who would not be
able to access this new technology beyond that access opportunity from
adults and family members and leaders of their community.
This raises the question of the challenge that I started out with.
This message is about children and technology, but it is also about
balancing the budget and priorities. Interestingly enough, in fiscal
year 1996 I offered an amendment to increase the funding of the
National Telecommunication Information Administration to provide more
dollars for access to the Internet to our rural and urban centers. We
did not find
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enough commitment, if you will, to realize the importance of ensuring
that effort at that time.
I will again be raising the issue of ensuring that there is
sufficient funding, but I recognize and applaud, as I have come to do
today, the private sector's involvement in making sure that we have
access. It is important as we do that, that we include not only those
so actively involved that I applaud from the majority community, but
Asians and Hispanics and African-Americans.
So I have committed, as I did last year, to continue to put together
presentations on how to capture the 21st century marketplace through
the Internet, and emphasize the value of minority entrepreneurs and
women being some of the providers of this technology. It is all about
interlocking. It is all about building on partnerships. As I close my
remarks at this time, it is about welfare reform.
How joyous have I seen welfare reform participants, or those who will
have to be part of welfare reform, when they have gone through a
computer class and have become computer literate and are ready to go
out in entry-level positions as a data entry clerk; or, might I say, as
the President called last evening for a national crusade for education
standards, maybe, I say to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] we
will be testing our children on computers. Therefore, if we are doing
that, far be it from us to deny the opportunity to those children to be
able to not only test educationally, but as well to ensure that they
know how to access the tool upon which they will be tested.
General Leave
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and
extend their remarks on the subject of my special order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. (Mr. Coble). Is there objection to the
request of the gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I started with the President's
remarks before I introduced the gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens]
because I wanted to ask him, paradoxically, was he involved in the
articulation and certainly the creating of that call, the national
crusade for educational standards.
The gentleman from New York, Major Owens, who is an original
cosponsor of this resolution that I offered today, is a graduate of
Morehouse College and Atlanta University, but he comes to us as a
librarian. I imagine he has pored over many pages and recognizes what
technology can do for learning.
More importantly, I have watched the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Owens] speak eloquently and without rest on the issue of educating
children, on the issue of providing education, on the issue of
providing education for providing opportunity.
{time} 1445
This resolution that I will file today is only the beginning of
action items for funding, for partnership, for prevention of
pornography and obscenity, for access by children, all legislative
agenda items that we will have to submit to. But the key element that
Congressman Owens brings to this discussion today is his unabiding and
overwhelming commitment to education.
I am delighted, and I yield to the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Owens] on this matter and on the question of education.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas and
congratulate her on the vision she has demonstrated by having this, by
putting forward this resolution and having this special order to alert
us to the fact that this resolution on NetDay needs our support. The
gentlewoman from Texas is very much on target. This, of course, is a
vital component of the education effort that must go forward, and I sat
here, just as she did last night, and was quite moved by the
President's speech, certainly the part about education, and was
certainly moved by the fact that when he spoke about a bipartisan
approach to education, there was thunderous applause here on the floor
and everybody got up on both sides. We can look forward to a very
productive 105th Congress in terms of education.
We must congratulate ourselves, those of us who insisted for the last
2 years that the Congress of the United States listen to the
commonsense of the American people. They said over and over again that
we want education to be a high priority. There were people who would
not listen in the last Congress for a long time. They came here and
they insisted that, first of all, we might consider eliminating the
Department of Education, just wipe it out. Then they talked about
massive cuts in Federal aid to education. I think in 1995, the
appropriations bill, there were proposals to cut almost $4 billion from
the Federal education budget. We did a turnaround and moved from that
low point of proposing a cut of almost $4 billion to the appropriations
bill of 1996, where the majority Republicans in this House proposed,
and I congratulate them, a $4 billion increase. It was almost a $4
billion increase. I congratulate the majority. I congratulate
Congressman Goodling, who is head of the education committee and
certainly played a major role in that. The children of America will
benefit.
Let us lay aside partisan considerations. It helped the Republicans
to win the election. We will talk about that at a later date. They were
brilliant in their understanding, finally, that commonsense dictated
that the Congress Members take a strong position on education.
I hope that that brilliance will endure and go on. The spirit of
NetDay, as a part of whatever we do on education, the spirit of NetDay
must be kept alive. The spirit of NetDay is partially a spirit of
volunteerism. It is also a spirit of understanding the role of
telecommunications and modern education technology in our educational
system.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me appropriately, as the
gentleman has done, applaud the President for being pronounced and
enunciating very clearly the message of education as well, and I keep
coming back to this theme because I can assure you that will you be on
the floor of the House over these next 2 years, as you have been in the
past, trying to prioritize and convince people that balancing the
budget is important but that it is absolutely imperative that we invest
in children and in education.
I say this because I do not want NetDay to be taken away from, though
I applaud the private sector involvement that will encourage it, that
we will have to make hard decisions. I hope we are not giving lip
service, far be it from me to claim that of any of my colleagues, but
that we realize that though we will not be reckless in spending money,
there will have to be some shifting of funds and it is worthy of us to
do so to create the work force, of which then we will not have to claim
that they are on welfare, they are unemployable or underemployed. I
hope people are listening to say, they have something here today. If
they educate, they will prevent them from the trials and tribulations
that many have passed through in years past.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman is very much on target. All
of these things are inextricably interwoven. You cannot have education
go forward unless you have a commitment from the Federal Government
through the budget and the appropriations process. I just wanted to
talk for a minute about what I mean when I say the spirit of NetDay
must go forward. There are some States that have not had their NetDay
yet.
In New York State, we had NetDay on September 21. I think it was a
little premature. And I want to say to the people who were in charge of
NetDay that it was basically a failure for New York City. I
congratulate all the Governors across the country who have assumed
responsibility and become very active and become the drum majors for
the NetDay effort, but the Governor of New York announced that 3,000
schools were wired in New York State. I went looking for the schools in
my district, which is a district that has 70 elementary and secondary
schools and 10 high schools. I could not find but one school that had
been wired on that day.
I said maybe it just passed over us and the rest of New York City,
which has more than 1,000 schools. New York City has more than 1,000
schools, and I looked for schools that had been wired on NetDay in New
York City and we found less than 25 that had really been wired. Wiring
in NetDay terminology is
[[Page H326]]
the wiring of 5 classrooms plus the library of the school. That is the
definition of wiring. It did not take place in even 25 schools in all
of New York City.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that I
address this same issue in another part of the House, and at this time
I will yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New York [Mr.
Owens]. He will continue commenting.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Coble). The Chair cannot recognize with
that request. The gentleman from New York can request a 5-minute
special order on his own time.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, is this some new rule for 1997 because in the
past we have done this?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. That has been the practice for a long, long
time.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, it has been done regularly on the floor of
the House.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will rule that the gentleman from
New York may be recognized for 5 minutes on his own time if he requests
unanimous consent to do that.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, is it because----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. If the gentlewoman wants to yield to the
gentleman for the balance of her time, she needs to remain on the
floor. Otherwise, the gentleman from New York may request and the Chair
will grant him a 5-minute special order.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I will at this time allow the
gentleman to continue and will come to the floor again, if time causes
me to ask for a change.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman understands that she cannot
leave the floor. She must stay on the floor.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I do understand that. Let me at least, as I
am staying on the floor, thank all of those who participated on this
very important occasion and as well to emphasize the clarion call that
was made.
I would further support for the NetDay resolution from all of my
colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New
York [Mr. Owens]. I will be studious as to my time element.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] has
13 minutes remaining.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman and I respectfully
request from the leadership of both parties, please clarify this and
not have a double standard on the floor because we certainly did this
in the last Congress.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. If the gentleman will suspend a minute. The
Chair will say to the gentleman from New York, this has been the rule
for as long as the Chair has been here. That has been a good while so
we can look into that at a later time.
Mr. OWENS. I would appreciate that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the spirit of NetDay, I said, has to be kept alive
because even after NetDay takes place as it did in New York City on
September 21, you find that it was basically a failure in terms of the
number of schools that were wired. Let us keep it going in order to get
schools wired.
After the headlines and the public relations brouhaha is over, let us
keep the spirit where volunteers assemble, volunteers take advantage of
the fact that we have a national NetDay operation which purchases
equipment very cheaply and makes it available, all that should go on.
We are trying to make that happen in my district, the 11th
Congressional District in Brooklyn.
We established, because of the failure of NetDay in our district, we
established a project called Central Brooklyn NetWatch. central
Brooklyn NetWatch is a joint project sponsored by my office in
conjunction with the Husain Institute of Technology. NetWatch is a
volunteer project utilizing the free services of the Husain Institute
of Technology to assist the schools of central Brooklyn in completing
school wiring for telecommunications services. Launched on October 23,
National Education Funding Support Day, NewWatch is an attempt to
guarantee that the inner-city schools of central Brooklyn will not be
left behind as we move the education processes and methodology into the
21st century.
Here are volunteers, and we started a project of just trying to wire
10 schools in 10 weeks. Let me show you what inner-city schools are up
against across the country. We found it difficult to wire 10 schools in
10 weeks because the wiring problem meets the construction and repair
problem. The asbestos problem in New York City stymies the process of
trying to wire the schools. You cannot bore holes in the schools' walls
and ceilings unless you have assurance that there is no asbestos there.
We had a crisis in New York City, 3 years ago, where schools were
kept closed for 3 weeks before they opened because they were trying to
deal with the asbestos problems. Many of us thought the asbestos
problem was over. It is still very much there in many of our schools.
That is one of the reasons why we wired so few schools on NetDay.
Now we need the President's construction money. The President's
program on construction is a vital part of trying to go forward with
telecommunications improvements. So it is all interwoven and you need
to go forward on that. I would like to conclude, since I know the
gentlewoman wants to go.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like the gentleman to
get his additional 5 minutes. So I would ask the Speaker if the
gentleman can get his additional 5 minutes on his own time and this way
I can leave the floor. Then he can get an additional 5 minutes as
opposed to having to try and conclude at this point.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. By unanimous consent, Ms. Jackson-Lee, if
the gentlewoman wants to leave the floor and then Mr. Owens, the
gentleman from New York, can request a 5-minute special order, in which
case the Chair will grant that request. Is that what the gentlewoman
wants to do?
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, that is what I would like to
do.
Mr. Speaker, I thank all those who have participated and will join me
in support of NetDay and the access of children to the Internet.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a sense-of-the-Congress resolution
regarding the outstanding achievements of the NetDay organization.
I, along with many Members of the House, have become acquainted with
the NetDay organization through the activity generated in our home
congressional districts by grass-roots NetDay projects.
I was proud to have had the honor of joining fellow Houstonians in
the kickoff ceremony for the Houston Independent School District's
NetDay96.
I also served as honorary chair of the Planning Committee for the
Houston Independent School District NetDay event.
Under the leadership of Dr. Rod Page, superintendent of the Houston
Independent School District, Daryl Ann Borel, assistant superintendent
for technology, and her staff, the H.I.S.D. NetDay project was a
success.
As a member of the conference committee on the Telecommunications
Reform Act of 1996, I was pleased to see the intent of the universal
telecommunications access provisions of that law being fulfilled
through the H.I.S.D.'s NetDay project.
Because of the Houston Independent School District's NetDay Project
72,975 students now have Internet access in the libraries of their
elementary, junior, and high schools. That is still not enough. This
was accomplished with the assistance of 652 volunteers who contributed
their time to neighborhood schools. The efforts of sponsors,
volunteers, students, teachers, and H.I.S.D. personnel saved the
Houston Independent School District $28,860.
With H.I.S.D.'s decision to hold NetDay96 connection projects for
each Saturday in the month of October, they ensured that every targeted
school within minority and majority communities received an equal
opportunity to have their neighborhood school library receive the
necessary wiring for Internet access.
With the entire Houston community's support we can reach the goal of
universal access for all of Houston's children by the year 2000.
As we work toward universal access to the Internet we must also be
vigilant in our efforts to promote software and hardware innovation
that will make access for our children as safe as possible. I have
learned that there are a number of software and hardware technologies,
which if employed, will block the ability of young users to
access websites that may not be appropriate for them. In addition, the
use of networked systems by school districts can also provide
protection for the Internet's youngest users.
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We in Congress must work to provide these important protective
features to users of the national information infrastructure as
educators work to assist us in guiding our children successfully toward
the 21st century job marketplace.
I believe that we should not cease from searching for additional
innovative ways to protect our children as we also work to provide them
with the much needed skills for today and tomorrow.
It is a fact that by the close of this century 60 percent of the new
jobs will require computer skills that are currently held by only 20
percent of our population. The work we do today will pay off for our
children.
From Alabama to Wyoming the NetDay organization has many places it
can call home. In the State of Alaska, the Anchorage School District
reports that 70 percent of Alaska's students wired several schools as
part of NetDay.
In the State of California, the launching site for the entire
national NetDay effort, over 75,000 volunteers wired over 3,500 schools
last fall.
While in the State of Texas 100 schools were wired, the majority of
which were in the city of Houston, TX. We need more activity in the
entire State of Texas, as well as all over America.
It is evident from our first NetDay year that States have garnered
varying degrees of success in their NetDay efforts. We still have a lot
of work to do before every school is connected to the Internet.
As a parent and a Member of Congress, I will continue to work toward
a safe and secure Internet environment in which we can provide
educational opportunities for our children. That means also working to
deny the proponents of pornography and obscene material from having
access to our children using the internet.
I believe this important resolution will go a long way in
communicating the important role the NetDay organization is playing in
the promotion of universal access to the information superhighway for
all of our Nation's children.
It is good that we, as Members of the House of Representatives, can
show our whole hearted support for the NetDay organization, which has
provided and should provide access for all children; rural, suburban,
and urban, regardless of whether they are poor or well off. Yes, NetDay
has proven it is possible to be inclusive when implementing private and
public partnerships of this magnitude.
I would like to thank my colleagues who have signed on as original
cosponsors of this resolution. I thank you for your commitment to our
Nation's children, and I look forward with great anticipation, as many
of you do, to the NetDay '97 events.
At this time I would like to read the resolution into the Record.
Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, NetDay is a tremendous opportunity to ensure
that all of our children will be able to compete in the high-technology
world of tomorrow. I would like to commend NetDay and its organizers
for the tremendous efforts that they have made in the last year to wire
all of our Nation's schools to the information superhighway. Through
NetDay, 20 percent of U.S. schools were wired to the Internet in 1996
alone. Almost every community in the country, including my own, have
been able to reap the benefits of this organization.
NetDay is the perfect partnership between businesses, government,
educational institutions, and local communities that provides ongoing
support for our schools. NetDay is made possible through the technical
support of companies such as IBM, and Bell Atlantic who provide the
technical skill to wire schools, financial sponsors who purchase the
wiring packages for classrooms, and thousands of volunteers who give up
their evenings and weekends for our children. This effort demonstrates
the powerful impact that voluntarism can have on our community.
Usually, connecting a classroom to the Internet costs approximately
$1,000. NetDay has been able to bring this cost below $400.
The Internet is transforming the way we live, communicate, study, and
conduct business. On the Internet, the educational opportunities that
are open to our children are limited only by their own imagination.
Students can browse a library in Europe as easily as they can browse
one just down the hall. More importantly, resources which were once
only available to affluent suburban schools can now be accessed by
students in remote rural areas or poor inner city areas. In the future,
our children's access to the information superhighway will not only be
a determining factor in whether or not America can remain competitive,
but whether we will truly be able to remain the indispensable Nation.
President Clinton has set a goal of wiring every school in the
country to the Internet by the year 2000. Thanks to service
organizations such as NetDay, and similar smaller programs throughout
the country, we are well on our way to achieving that goal.
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