[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 73 (Tuesday, June 13, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H4223-H4224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE INTERNET AND THE NEW ECONOMY

  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, today we are enjoying very good economic 
growth, and I am so proud this Congress played a role by balancing the 
budget and cutting taxes for the middle class, boosting our economy. 
The key part of our economy today is what many call the New Economy, 
the technology economy.
  Let me give my colleagues some statistics that really illustrate the 
role of the new economy in American society. Today, over 100 million 
Americans are using the Internet, and 7 new people are on the Internet 
every second. Seventy-eight percent of Internet users almost always 
vote in national, State and local elections, compared with 64 percent 
of nonInternet users. It took just 5 years for the Internet to reach 50 
million users, much faster than when compared to the traditional 
electronic media. It took television 13 years to reach 50 million and 
radio 38 years to reach the same audience.
  The Internet economy generated an estimated 302 billion U.S. dollars 
in revenue in 1998, employing 4.8 million workers. More workers are 
employed in the technology economy than auto and steel and petroleum 
combined, and the average high technology wage is 77 percent higher 
than the average private sector wage elsewhere. As I noted earlier, 
one-third of all new economic growth is generated by the technology 
economy.
  I am proud to say I am from a technology State. I represent the State 
of Illinois. Illinois ranks fourth in high technology employment. 
Illinois ranks third in high technology exports, so Illinois is clearly 
a technology State. I have had the opportunity many times to talk with 
friends and neighbors who are involved in the new economy, and we talk 
about who has access to the Internet. Over 100 million Americans have 
access to the Internet, are on line, and 7 new Americans go on line for 
the first time every second. So clearly there is a great opportunity, 
not only for information, but also for employment and moving up the 
economic ladder.
  They tell me that it seems that the higher the income level of the 
family, the more likely that they are on line. If a family has an 
income of $75,000 or more, they are 20 times more likely than a family 
with a lesser income to have Internet access or a computer at home. 
When we ask the question of why are they less likely to have Internet 
access or computers at home, they tell us that it is because of the 
cost. They would like to have a computer at home for their children to 
be able to do their school work, they would like their children to have 
access to the Internet so that they can access the Library of Congress 
to do their school papers, but they do not feel they can afford it.
  So clearly the cost of Internet access creates what some call the 
digital divide, but clearly as well is the need for an agenda to 
provide digital opportunity.
  When we look at the costs, I believe we have an important choice to 
make as we talk about the information superhighway and giving every 
American access to the information superhighway. We have to make a 
choice, and that choice is do we want the information superhighway to 
be a tollway or a freeway. Well, clearly, if we want to address the 
concern that lower and moderate income families have, and that is that 
cost is the chief barrier, we need to work to make sure that the 
Internet, the information superhighway, is a freeway.
  So many have pointed out that our new economy is growing because of a 
tax-free, regulation-free, trade barrier-free climate, but we need to 
move forward again to create more initiatives to continue to work to 
eliminate the toll booths on the information highway.
  I was proud just a few weeks ago to introduce legislation we call the 
DATA Act, legislation designed to help lower and moderate-income 
families go on line, to become part of the new economy. Educators back 
home in the south side of Chicago and the south suburbs that I 
represent, they tell me that they notice a difference in children who 
have a computer and Internet access in the home versus those who do

[[Page H4224]]

not, their ability to compete and do their homework.
  I am proud to say that some major employers in the Illinois area, as 
well as across this country, have stepped forward to help solve that 
so-called digital divide by providing computers and Internet access as 
a basic employee benefit. What that means is the employees of Ford 
Motor Company, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Intel, everyone 
from the janitor, the laborer, the assembly line worker, the flight 
attendant, the baggage handler, all the way up through middle 
management to senior management, will now have computers and Internet 
access in their homes for their kids to do their school work. It is a 
wonderful initiative by the private sector and I salute them and 
congratulate them. As a result of that, 600,000 American working 
families will have computers and Internet access at home, many who 
before never could afford it. That is a great thing.
  Many in the Fortune 100 are looking to and following the lead of 
these 4 great companies, but their tax lawyers tell them that if they 
do, that it will be treated as a taxable employee benefit, meaning the 
employee will be taxed. I say to my colleagues, let us remove that toll 
booth. Let us ensure that computers and Internet access as an employee 
benefit are not taxed, that it is a tax-free employee benefit treated 
the same as an employer's contribution to a pension or an employer's 
contribution to health care.

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