[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18607-18608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                                DATA ACT

  (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, the Internet and the new economy offers 
great opportunity. We have over 100 million Americans that are online. 
Every second, seven more Americans go online. There are now 4.8 million 
Americans employed in the technology sector. That is more than auto and 
steel and oil combined. So there is a tremendous amount of opportunity.
  Unfortunately, when I talk with my educators, teachers, school 
administrators, and school board members back home, they tell me they 
notice a difference in the classroom when children have a computer and 
Internet access at home and those who do not. Many call that the 
digital divide.
  I am pleased to say that the private sector has been stepping 
forward. Ford, Intel, Delta, American Airlines have stepped forward and 
are now offering to their employees, as an employee benefit, a computer 
and Internet access for use at home, benefitting 600,000 families. That 
is going to help.
  Think about it. The laborer, the assembly line worker, the baggage 
handler, the flight attendant, their children having a computer and 
Internet

[[Page 18608]]

access at home to do their schoolwork just like the CEO and the 
manager's child.
  Here is the catch, though. The IRS wants to tax that computer 
provided to that employee. And, of course, we need to stop that. Let us 
pass the data act. I ask for cosponsorship and bipartisan support.

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