[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 210 (Monday, December 6, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8927-S8928]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I thank the majority leader for moving 
forward on the Rosenworcel nomination and encourage my colleagues to 
vote yes.

[[Page S8928]]

  I was mentioning the issues of disparity across our country for those 
who don't have access to broadband. The Makah Tribe, located on the 
northwest point of the Olympic Peninsula, 90 percent of those 
households don't have broadband.
  I know Ms. Rosenworcel committed to both Senator Wicker and myself 
she would work with us on the issue of broadband mapping. I know in one 
county in Mississippi, the home of my colleague, that it is estimated 
the FCC broadband mapping overestimates internet coverage by a whopping 
80 percent. This is unacceptable. We need accurate mapping, and we need 
the broadband funding to move forward.
  I know the Biden administration understands the importance of 
affordability of broadband. I know they want to deploy broadband and 
make it more affordable, and we want to work with them to make that 
happen.
  Chairwoman Rosenworcel also looked at the issue of healthcare and the 
fact that the internet is now access to doctors, to medical 
information, to monitoring patients, to delivering healthcare, and 
keeping the lights on. This is also why I think her nomination is so 
important.
  She took time to firsthand visit telehealth in Washington--the State 
of Washington--and Seattle and saw how we were pushing forward. Yet the 
FCC is going to do more in this particular area.
  Her leadership, I believe, will help ensure that our spectrum 
policies continue to spur innovation and economic prosperity. I know 
that she will be able to look forward to these developing technologies 
and how best to include innovation, including the next 5G wireless 
technology communications.
  All of this, I believe, means that we in the United States have a 
desire to keep pushing the envelope and to have an FCC that understands 
how to resolve these problems.
  I ask my colleague to support her nomination and to move forward on 
these important policies so we all can work on them together.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, I, as well as Senator Cantwell, rise in 
support of Jessica Rosenworcel, President Joe Biden's nominee to serve 
as the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission.
  In her time on the Commission, Chair Rosenworcel has been a tireless 
advocate for consumers in today's fast-changing media and digital 
landscape.
  She stands up for consumers. She stands up for competition. She 
stands up for children. That is what the job of Chair of the Federal 
Communications Commission is all about, is standing up for all of those 
core principles that our country believes in.
  She has made it very clear that she does believe that title II of the 
Communications Act is something that can be and must be used in order 
to ensure that we give full protections to broadband users in our 
country.
  Now, more than ever, we need strong leadership at the Federal 
Communications Commission, as Senator Cantwell was just speaking.
  We have 12 to 17 million children in the United States who did not 
have the internet during the first year of the COVID crisis, and we 
were able to build in huge funding that has reduced dramatically the 
number of children who do not have the internet at home, but more work 
must be done.
  The best way to do it is to add even more money into the Build Back 
Better bill. If we do that, we will see that we are dealing with the 
fact that especially Black and Brown and immigrant children in our 
country have access to the tools which they are going to need to be 
able to get an education.
  The coronavirus is coming back. It is taking a U-turn, and its 
implications for the education of poor children in our country is 
dramatic. That is why Chair Rosenworcel is the right person at the 
right time in order to serve as the Chair of the Federal Communications 
Commission.
  We have to ensure the competition is at the heart of our policy. That 
is Chair Rosenworcel. We have to make sure the consumers benefit from 
these innovations in technology. That is her agenda. And we have to 
make sure that children--every child in our country--gets access to the 
technologies that are going to be necessary for every one of them to 
maximize their God-given abilities. That is what Chair Rosenworcel is 
all about.
  I recommend with the strongest possible voice that I have to have a 
very strong vote on the floor of the Senate to confirm her for the 
Federal Communications Commission.
  I yield the floor.