[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 161 (Friday, November 7, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S14264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           UNIVERSAL SERVICE

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, the Senate Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation held a hearing last week on the Universal 
Service Fund, USF, and I would like to take a few moments to share with 
my colleagues some thoughts on this topic. As many of my colleagues 
know, the survival and strength of this fund is critically important to 
providing affordable, state-of-the-art telecommunications services to 
rural and high-cost areas. Without universal service support, many 
residents in South Dakota and other rural areas would not have the 
opportunity to share in the benefits of quality telephone and data 
services.
  I have recently cosponsored S. 1380, the Rural Universal Service 
Equity Act of 2003, which would change the formulas that determine the 
distribution of universal service high-cost funds among nonrural 
telephone companies. I believe this legislation is necessary to address 
an inequity in the current formulas limiting the amount of high-cost 
support so called nonrural companies such as Qwest receive from the 
USF. While I am pleased that under this legislation, South Dakota would 
receive more support than it currently does, I am mindful that it does 
so at the expense of other States and Puerto Rico.
  Under the current USF system, although Qwest provides telephone 
service to many South Dakota residents, including some in very rural 
and high cost areas, it receives no universal service support from the 
high-cost model for operations in South Dakota. This has the practical 
effect of forcing Qwest to keep rates in other areas of my State higher 
than they otherwise would be in order to subsidize service in the high 
cost areas.
  Although I support this legislation, I recognize that it does not 
address the more fundamental issues threatening the sustainability of 
the universal service fund. The entire universal service system is 
jeopardized because of a shrinking contribution base and increased 
demands. Without addressing these fundamental problems related to the 
viability of the system as a whole, the change in the formulas as 
proposed in S. 1380 will have limited value.
  I urge my colleagues to work in a bipartisan manner to help assess 
and develop comprehensive solutions to the many outstanding and 
emerging issues that confront the universal service program. We can do 
no less if we truly believe in the underlying principles of this 
longtime national policy that has proven so vital to both our economic 
and national security.




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