[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 72 (Friday, June 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE IMPORTANCE OF THE E-RATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, here in this Chamber we just finished 
bidding farewell to our pages, young men and women from around the 
country who had an opportunity to expand their horizons serving in our 
Nation's Capital, really being in touch literally around the world. And 
it is a marvelous experience that they have. We are all pleased that 
they were able to accommodate it.
  But the fact is that we have it in our power today to extend that 
same rich experience, being connected around the world, to every young 
person in America, and through our library systems extend it to every 
American, and the magic of the Internet will provide that worldwide 
connection.
  Today, I call upon the Federal Communications Commission to reject 
the calls we are hearing from some to delay funding the E-Rate program, 
to do the right thing by America's schoolchildren and library patrons 
by providing full funding for the E-Rate.
  The Federal Communications Commission is within days of making a 
decision that can bring the power of the Internet to all of these 
constituencies. If some telecommunications companies have their way, 
unfortunately, the Commission would back down in the face of a last-
minute campaign of threats and innuendo in an effort to discredit the 
E-Rate. As a result of this campaign, the full importance of the E-Rate 
and its potential impact on consumer phone rates really has failed to 
be heard.
  Mr. Speaker, the E-Rate is not a new tax imposed by Congress on an 
unsuspecting populace. In fact, the E-Rate program was included in the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was passed by a Republican 
Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support.
  As part of that act, added by again a bipartisan initiative that 
included Senator Rockefeller and Senator Olympia Snowe, it built upon 
the Universal Service Fund established in 1934 that was used to help 
provide access to poor and rural areas for telephone service to provide 
an extension of the E-Rate on the same basis.
  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 extended universal service beyond 
residential customers to include our schools and libraries, and 
expanded that service available for universal service beyond simply the 
plain old telephone service and added access to the Internet. To 
suggest that this obligation is new seems ludicrous, since the 
telephone companies have been paying for universal service since 1934.
  With these facts in hand, I cannot condone the action on the part of 
some companies who are adding customer surcharges of up to 5 percent 
and blaming the E-Rate for increased costs. The Telecommunications Act 
of 1996 contemplated full payment of the E-Rate by the other cost 
savings that would be passed on to the telecommunications industry. In 
fact, the latest research indicates that they have already received far 
more than the $2.4 billion that is contemplated.
  In my community, Buckman Grade School was the third grade school in 
the world to have its own web site. It was able to do that by its cadre 
of dedicated parents with bake sales, spaghetti dinners, but access to 
the Internet should not be dependent upon bake sales.
  We have 30,000 applications now pending from schools and libraries 
all over the country to give this Internet access. The E-Rate is good 
for business, it is good for United States global competitiveness, it 
is important for our central cities and our rural areas. Our schools 
and libraries are trying to educate tomorrow's leaders with decade-old 
technological tools far too often.
  The E-Rate has a potential of putting all of our young people on the 
same par with the interns that we just celebrated. It must be 
supported. Our future depends upon it. I call upon all of my 
congressional colleagues to raise their voice to the FCC to make sure 
that the E-Rate is fully funded.

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