[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1244-S1245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today, as we near the end of Black 
History Month, to focus attention on the widening gap between those 
Americans who use or have access to telecommunications technologies, 
like computers and the Internet, and those who do not. Surprisingly, 
there are those naysayers who suggest that the ``digital divide'' does 
not exist, that it is a myth or fabrication of consumer and civil 
rights advocates. Perhaps it is because the term ``digital divide'' has 
been so over-used and, in some instances, mis-used that it causes some 
to doubt its existence. Perhaps the term has so thoroughly infiltrated 
our everyday discourse that it causes skeptics to under-estimate its 
very real and powerful consequences.
  No matter the reason for these naysayers' doubt, the unequivocal 
answer to their question ``is there really a digital divide'' is a 
resounding ``YES.'' A series of reports issued by the U.S. Department 
of Commerce not only confirms that the ``digital divide'' exists; it 
suggests that, while the number of Americans accessing the Internet has 
grown rapidly in recent years, the technology gap between poor and 
minority communities, on one hand, and other Americans, on the other, 
is actually widening.
  Take this seemingly encouraging example: from December 1998 to August 
2000, the percentage of African-American households with Internet 
access more than doubled, from 11.2 percent to 23.5 percent--an 
encouraging development, by any measure. But during that same time 
period, the percentage of total households nationally with Internet 
access soared to 41.5 percent. And the access rates for White Americans 
and Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders--46.1 percent and 56.8 percent, 
respectively--significantly outpaced that national average. As a 
consequence, the already substantial gap between African-American 
Internet usage and national usage grew 3 percentage points. The gap was 
even greater when comparing African-American usage with that of White 
Americans or Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Similarly, during 
that same 20-month period, the gap between Hispanic households with 
Internet access and the national average grew 4 percentage points.
  The effect: What was once a gap is now swelling into a chasm. Just 
this morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in 1997, ten 
percent of Americans earning less than $25,000 a year used the 
Internet, compared with 45 percent of those earning more than $75,000. 
By 2001, despite increased usage by both groups, the ``gap'' had grown 
to 50 percentage points.
  Yes, the ``digital divide'' exists, and that fact should concern us 
greatly. In today's information age, unequal access to the national 
information infrastructure affects nearly every part of our lives. 
Access to these networks increasingly dictates the ease with which we 
can pursue education, conduct our financial affairs, apply for a job, 
or participate in the political process. Lack of access will only 
reinforce and magnify already existing inequalities in these important 
areas of life.
  Against that backdrop, I am shocked by the Bush administration's 
apparent efforts to dismantle many programs designed to eliminate the 
inequality of access to technology. These programs, including the 
popular E-Rate Program, have a demonstrated record of success 
connecting roughly 1 million public school classrooms and 13,000 
community libraries to modern telecommunications networks. Moreover, 
the vast majority of the funding is dedicated to low-income 
communities, and significant dollars flow to schools under the Bureau 
of Indian Affairs. By all accounts, these initiatives are working, yet 
the Administration is maneuvering to eliminate them one by one.
  Don't be fooled: This is a not a debate about electronic gadgets or 
computer megabytes. It is a debate about who gets to speak and who gets 
to listen. At its heart, it implicates the very nature of our 
democracy.
  It is a debate about who among us, as the information revolution 
takes off, will be left behind. Electronic commerce has become a 
critical factor in determining future economic development and 
prosperity. Communities and individuals without access to the Internet 
will be excluded from that growth.

[[Page S1245]]

 The sadness, however, is that, by leaving some behind, we impoverish 
not only those individuals, we also impoverish ourselves. None of us 
will enjoy sustained economic growth unless we expand the information 
revolution to all parts of our society.
  With that in mind, we cannot afford to make technology decisions 
based on dated and ill-conceived perceptions about the interest or 
ability of minorities and poor people to purchase certain ``high-end'' 
technology. Nor can we simply bypass low-income and minority 
communities, where the telecommunications and electronic network 
infrastructure may be older and, therefore, less able to provide more 
sophisticated services. To the extent that technology, including the 
Internet and telecommunications services, is deployed in a way that 
avoids poor and minority communities, we must do all that we can to 
deter this form of redlining.
  Toward this end, the administration should keep its promise to invest 
$400 million to create and maintain more than 2,000 community 
technology centers in low-income neighborhoods by 2002. The role that 
community technology centers plays in helping to bridge the digital 
divide cannot be overstated. Community technology centers are 
instrumental in closing the information technology divide, and, by 
tapping demand for these services, supporters of community technology 
initiatives can open up new markets for companies that serve the 
Internet economy.
  The development of information technology holds great potential to 
strengthen and invigorate American society. That potential cannot be 
fully realized, however, unless we pay attention to the hundreds of 
thousands of individuals, many of whom reside in largely minority and/
or low-income communities, who have no, or limited, access to our 
burgeoning national information infrastructure. We can, and must, 
inform decisionmakers about the true value of minority markets 
receptive to advanced services. We must provide private industry with 
incentives to deploy in these markets. And, perhaps most important, we 
must continue to make public investments in underserved communities. 
Our failure will only dampen private sector and philanthropic efforts, 
and, more tragically, handicap a generation of Americans for years to 
come.

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