[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 6, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6413-S6414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following 
nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Lee 
Philip Rudofsky, of Arkansas, to be United States District Judge for 
the Eastern District of Arkansas.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                S. 1699

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, last Friday was an exciting day. I was home 
in Sioux Falls, SD, to mark a huge milestone for the city and for South 
Dakota--the unveiling of Sioux Falls' first 5G small cells. By the end 
of this month, Sioux Falls will have a working, albeit limited, 5G 
network--one of the first cities in the entire country to have one.
  Most people take internet access for granted these days. We assume 
that anywhere we go, we will be able to access our GPS, check Facebook, 
or send a text message. But the truth is that there are still areas in 
the United States where it can be difficult to get reliable internet 
access. Some of those areas are in South Dakota. That is why expanding 
access to broadband internet in rural communities has been a priority 
of mine since I came to the Senate. While it can be nice to turn off 
our phones and take a break, in this day and age, Americans need 
reliable internet access.
  More and more of the business of daily life is being conducted over 
the internet, from scheduling appointments to figuring out the shortest 
way from point A to point B. The internet has already become an 
integral part of commerce. Small businesses and farms in areas without 
dependable access miss out on a lot of opportunities that most 
businesses take for granted.
  Both as chairman and as a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation Committee, I have had the chance to draw attention to 
the state of broadband access in rural communities. I have conducted 
numerous hearings with testimony from rural broadband providers, 
farmers, Tribal representatives, and Federal officials both in 
Washington and in my home State of South Dakota.
  Over the past several years, we have seen the number of Americans 
lacking access to broadband decrease significantly, but there is more 
work that needs to be done. With the advent of 5G technology, we now 
have to expand our efforts to make deploying 5G technology to rural 
communities a priority.
  Most of us think today's internet is pretty fast. We get traffic 
updates that are basically in real time. We receive emails seconds 
after they have been sent. We stream our favorite shows at home or on 
the go. But 5G will make 4G look like dialup. It will deliver 
lightning-fast speeds up to 100 times faster than what today's 
technology delivers. That is hard to imagine. After all, as I said, 
today's technology seems pretty fast, but 5G will enable near-instant 
responsiveness from our phones and other devices.
  However, 5G is about a lot more than streaming more shows on more 
devices or receiving emails instantly. In addition to being up to 100 
times faster than current speeds, 5G will be vastly more responsive 
than 4G technology, and we will be able to connect 100 times the number 
of devices that can be connected with 4G. Because of this, 5G will 
enable massive breakthroughs in healthcare, transportation, 
agriculture, and other key industries.
  5G will bring new opportunities and benefits to rural communities in 
particular. 5G will pave the way for the widespread adoption of 
precision agriculture, which uses tools like robotics and remote 
monitoring to help farmers manage their fields and boost their crop 
yields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that precision 
agriculture will reduce farmers' operational costs by up to $25 per 
acre and increase farmers' yields by up to 70 percent by the year 2050. 
5G will also make it easier for residents of rural communities to 
access business and educational opportunities and long-distance 
healthcare.
  The technology for 5G is already here, and it is actually being 
implemented, as Friday's event in Sioux Falls demonstrates.
  There is more work to be done before 5G is a reality across the 
United States. In order to deploy 5G, wireless providers need access to 
sufficient spectrum, and they need to be able to deploy the 
infrastructure needed to support the technology in a reasonable and 
timely manner.
  Last year, the President signed into law my bipartisan MOBILE NOW 
Act. It was legislation that I introduced to help secure adequate 
spectrum for 5G technology. Earlier this year, Senator Schatz and I 
reintroduced the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act to address the 
other part of the 5G equation, and that is infrastructure. 5G 
technology will require not just traditional cell phone towers but 
small antennas called small cells that can often be attached to 
existing infrastructure, like utility poles or buildings.
  While the Federal Communications Commission, under Chairman Pai, has 
modernized its regulations on small cell siting, there is more work to 
be done, and that is where my bill, the STREAMLINE Act, comes in. The 
STREAMLINE Act will expedite the deployment of small cells while 
respecting the role of State and local governments in making deployment 
decisions.
  Importantly, it will make it more affordable to bring 5G to rural 
areas by addressing the costs of small cell deployment. 5G has 
tremendous promise for rural areas, but it will only deliver on that 
promise if we ensure that 5G cells are actually deployed in these 
areas. I am proud that we have made a good start in South Dakota. Sioux 
Falls' mayor, Paul TenHaken, has worked aggressively to remove barriers 
to telecommunications investment in Sioux Falls.
  Nationally, we urgently need to take action to remove the final 
barriers to large-scale 5G deployment. While we have made good progress 
in securing low- and high-band spectrum, China and South Korea are far 
ahead of us in opening up midband spectrum to 5G. If we don't want 
China or South Korea to win the race to 5G and seize the economic 
benefits that 5G will bring, we need to substantially increase the 
amount of midband spectrum available to U.S. companies, and we need to 
do it quickly.
  We also need to take action on legislation such as my STREAMLINE Act 
to pave the way for the widespread deployment of 5G infrastructure. 
America can lead the world in the 5G revolution. The technology is 
here. We just need to take the final steps to bring 5G into our 
communities.
  I look forward to continuing to work to support the nationwide 
deployment of 5G with all of the benefits it can bring to the American 
people.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S6414]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.