[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H327-H328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MORE ON NETDAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, what I am trying to say is that the spirit of 
NetDay must be kept alive. The spirit of last night's thundering 
applause for the President when he spoke on education must be kept 
alive. We cannot do that unless we recognize there are some hard 
problems that must be overcome. The President's program on construction 
and repair is a vital part of being able to wire the schools. You 
cannot have the telecommunications, which will benefit schools greatly.
  It will allow schools to expand beyond books and pencil and paper and 
the limitations and get into what our young people are already into. 
They look at television a great deal. They look at videos. Are they 
going to respond to teaching that is done using the techniques that 
they are aware of and exposed to in their environment outside the 
schools?
  One important part of it is to pass the President's initiative on 
school construction. He has an initiative which calls for up to 50 
percent interest subsidy for new school construction and renovation. He 
has another initiative which calls for $20 billion in school 
construction spurred by $5 billion in Federal jump-start funding over 4 
years, which will be discussed at greater length in the future.

                              {time}  1630

  But that is absolutely necessary for the telecommunications movement 
to go forward that is encouraged by NetDay to take place.
  There is another item that you must all be alerted to: the education 
rate for telecommunications services; affordable access for all schools 
and libraries. This Congress in 1996 passed a telecommunications bill 
which the President signed into law on February 8, 1996. The President 
signed this law which reformed the Nation's telecommunications laws 
that will increase competition and lower prices for all consumers, 
including libraries and schools.
  In this law was a mandate from Congress which said that the FCC had 
to find ways to give discounts or special consideration to libraries 
and schools in providing telecommunication services. On November 7, 
1996, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service unanimously 
recommended that schools and libraries receive discounts for 
telecommunications services, Internet services and internal 
connections.
  The recommendations call for discounts that range from 20 to 90 
percent, with an average discount of 60 percent. The FCC has until May 
1997 to develop the rules for implementing the recommendations of the 
joint board.
  What am I talking about? I am saying that in the poorest schools and 
rural areas and in inner-city communities the poorest schools may get 
up to a 90 percent discount, 90 percent on their telephone bill, on 
their bill for Internet on-line services, on the initial connecting 
bills. It may happen if the FCC follows through on the recommendations 
that have already been received.
  I think everybody should write to the FCC or should write to the 
telecommunications company and thank them for cooperating and 
understanding that we cannot go forward with the education of all 
Americans unless we have this kind of provision which lowers the cost 
of telecommunications services for all schools.
  It is very important that we support the recommendations from the 
Federal-State joint board because the FCC has until May to develop the 
rules and vote on these rules.
  Please understand that the spirit of NetDay that the gentlewoman from 
Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, has put forth so 
appropriately, the spirit of NetDay should go forward in many ways, but 
one way we can carry the spirit of NetDay forward is by letting the FCC 
know that we want the recommendation for the 20 to 90 percent discount 
on telecommunication services to be passed as rapidly as possible.
  The schools which you need to help most, the poorest schools in the 
United States, are the schools which have the most difficult problems 
in teaching. They will not be able to benefit from

[[Page H328]]

the technological revolution, they will not be able to benefit from the 
new telecommunications that will be available unless they have some way 
to solve the problem of the operations cost. The operations cost.
  Most schools do not have telephones, you know. I mean, they have a 
limited number of telephones. In New York we have a school serving 
2,000 youngsters that may have 5 or 6 telephones. A telephone should be 
in every classroom because we have been aware of telephone technology 
for a long time. There are thousands of ways telephones can be used to 
improve the operation of the schools and the operation of the 
structure, but even that is not there. Before you get to videotapes and 
television sets and the Internet and the computers, we need the 
telephone.
  We can take a giant step forward by understanding that the universal 
fund that the FCC is now considering should be supported, and 
immediately; in the spirit of NetDay, we can go forward to try to 
convince the telecommunications companies to also support the FCC 
recommendation for a 20 to 90 percent discount on telecommunication 
services.

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