[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 24, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E337-E338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 13, 2009

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, delaying the DTV transition will do 
nothing more than increase spending and will jeopardize our public 
safety infrastructure. It will require that we spend another $650 
million, and it won't move a single person off the wait list for 
converter boxes.
  In fact, the fund for converter box coupons is not depleted. Only 
half of the $1.5 billion in the program has been spent. With a simple 
legislative change, we could immediately resume sending coupons without 
delaying the transition process.
  Worse still, delaying the transition will jeopardize the spectrum 
needed by public safety officials for interoperable communication 
systems--the same vital spectrum requested 5 years before 9/11 that has 
still not been made available 14 years later.
  Let's take immediate steps to eliminate the current back-log of 
digital converter-box requests to ensure a successful DTV transition on 
February 17th, and finally pave the way for 21st century communications 
systems public safety professionals desperately need.

[[Page E338]]



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