[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

[[Page H322]]

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

[[Page H323]]

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,

[[Page H324]]

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

[[Page H325]]

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.

[[Page H327]]

  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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