[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN SUPPORT OF THE MANDATES INFORMATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with encouragement that this 
House just passed the Mandates Information Act, which will help to 
safeguard us from making unfunded mandates to the private sector.
  Well, I am here today to do just that, to address an unfunded mandate 
that our constituents pay for every month in their phone bills, the E-
rate program, sometimes known as the ``Gore Tax,'' because it has 
garnered the Vice President's support.
  As you know, Mr. Speaker, the intent of the ``Gore Tax'' is to ensure 
that every school and library is connected to the Internet. But the FCC 
pays for this program by getting mandatory contributions from phone 
companies and others. If you look at your phone bill, you will see that 
mandatory contribution passed on to you, the consumer, as part of the 
Universal Service Charge.
  Mandatory contributions. Mr. Speaker, let us be honest. If it looks 
like a tax, it quacks like a tax, it is a tax. We can say that our 
annual ``mandatory contributions'' to the government are due on April 
15th, but we know different.
  I have a chart here that shows how it works. First the FCC forces 
this mandatory contribution on long distance phone companies and 
others; second, those companies make their massive contributions to the 
Universal Service Corporation here. That is currently capped at $2.25 
billion each year, this mandatory contribution.
  Only here, only in government, only at the Federal Government, could 
we actually come up with these oxymoronic statements, that this is a 
mandatory contribution.
  But what the Vice President and other E-rate supporters do not want 
you to know is that this is a hidden tax. Consumers are forced to pay 
this charge through their monthly phone bills. This is where the hidden 
tax is found, and I would like to eliminate it.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans today are taxed at the highest levels in 
history. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office recently reported 
that Federal tax revenues have reached a peacetime record level of 20.5 
percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
  But, Mr. Speaker, this is not just a hidden tax, it is also an 
unnecessary tax. I have some statistics here from the Congressional 
Research Service that came before the ``Gore Tax'' was created.
  Now, remember this tax was put on, it was snuck through essentially 
in order to provide technological support and technology support for 
schools, in order to encourage them to get on to the Internet and to 
put computers in classrooms.

                              {time}  1415

  But before this tax was ever passed, according to the Congressional 
Research Service, the 1997 student-to-computer ratio in this country 
was 8-to-1. Also in 1997, 78 percent of all schools were connected to 
the Internet, remember, before this tax ever came into existence.
  Mr. Speaker, the President has just asked for another $766 million in 
his Department of Education's budget for education technology alone. 
That is three-quarters of $1 billion, and I quote his own budget 
summary, ``as a part of the President's proposal to connect all schools 
to the Internet and put a computer in every classroom.'' Mr. Speaker, 
this is the ``Gore Tax,'' and what is this ``Gore Tax'' program? Is 
there not some duplication in a multibillion-dollar effort to put 
Internet in the schools?
  In fact, there are over 20 Federal programs aimed toward this effort, 
not to mention hundreds of State and local private initiatives.
  Last year, the Committee on Appropriations reported that the 
Department of Education cannot account for the money it now spends in 
education technology. They cannot explain where this money goes. In 
fact, the Committee on Appropriations said that it fears millions of 
dollars might go unspent each year.
  Today, I am introducing the E-Rate Termination Act, and I would like 
to thank the 13 original cosponsors of this bill for recognizing the 
dire need for change. By eliminating this hidden tax, we can focus on 
honest and realistic ways to address our schools' and libraries' 
technological needs, and I ask for my colleagues' support.

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