{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS12010", "2004-12-08", 108, 2, null, null, "E-RATE PROGRAM", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S12010", "S12012", "[{\"name\": \"Bill Nelson\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Conrad R. Burns\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "150 Cong. Rec. S12010", "Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S12010-S12012]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                             E-RATE PROGRAM\n\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, as we are awaiting the final\nmoments of this session of Congress, there are deliberations going on\nin the Capitol about an agreement to come forth with legislation--my\nunderstanding, already passed by the House--that will allow Internet\nservice to be provided to schools and libraries. This is the very\npopular and widely acclaimed E-Rate Program that had been set up back\nin the nineties. The idea was that we lower the cost of providing\nInternet to schools and libraries so that students who would not\notherwise have an opportunity of experience on the Internet would be\nable to get it at school.\n  I visited such a school last week in Tallahassee, FL. It is a school\nthat is state of the art in all of the electronic provisions but yet,\nas part of the school system of that county, Leon County, is able to\nafford it because virtually all of their schools do have the Internet\nprovided. This particular school, Roberts Elementary, in a rural\nsection outside of Tallahassee in Leon County, has a diverse student\npopulation. It spans the socioeconomic spectrum and, indeed, there are\na number of students at this school who, if they did not have Internet\nexperience at school, would not have the opportunity to learn how to\nuse the Internet and have available to them the services on the\nInternet.\n  The long and short of it is we would be depriving, because of\nsocioeconomic status, a significant part of our student population an\nequal opportunity to an education, and that is a standard we all hold\nup as something that is worthwhile to strive for.\n  It all comes down to tonight. The E-Rate Program is going to stop,\nnot because there is any diabolical movement here to take it away,\nbecause there certainly is not--it is widely acclaimed and widely\npopular--but because of a new accounting glitch in one of our agencies.\nI won't go into the details of this new method of accounting. It is, in\nessence, saying you are going to have to take away the fund that would\nsupply the Internet to schools at a reduced rate. The alternative to\nthat is--and this is not a very palatable alternative--that telephone\nrates for the Universal Service Program are going to go up to provide\nthis money to continue to provide Internet service to schools and\nlibraries.\n  It can all be taken care of so easily--and I do not know of any\ndisagreement on the substance of the issue--if we pass this bill\ntonight. It is my understanding there are a couple of Senators who have\na hold on this for completely different reasons unrelated to any of\nthis subject matter. There are discussions going on in this U.S.\nCapitol Building right now over the lifting of those objections so at\nthe last few minutes, the clock is showing, of this session of the\nSenate, we can take up the House bill and pass it. That is all we have\nto do and do it by unanimous consent with no objections.\n  If we do not do this tonight, then we are going to have to come back\nand go through the whole process again--pass it in the House, pass it\nin the Senate--and in the meantime have schools such as Roberts\nElementary in Tallahassee, FL, be concerned whether they are going to\nhave an e-rate, at the same time threatening telephone subscribers by\nthinking their bills are going to go up in order to pay for this\nworthwhile program, and none of that is necessary.\n  I call on cooler heads to prevail and allow this program that is so\nnecessary for the education of so many of our children to achieve that\nobjective we all embrace, which is an equal opportunity for an\neducation for all children.\n  Before I yield the floor, Mr. President, I see the Senator from\nMontana has just come in. Just so I may inform him, I have just given\nthis Senator's impassioned plea for the E-Rate Program and why we need\nto pass this bill tonight. I have laid out the reasons, and I want the\nSenator from Montana to know a specific example of a school I visited\nlast Friday, Roberts Elementary in Tallahassee, FL.\n  The Senator well knows not only universal service and the importance\nof universal service to the rural areas of his State, as I do with\nmine--no matter how long the lines are that have to be run out there--\nbut that in that Universal Service Program is this funding mechanism\nfor providing Internet service to schools and libraries.\n  The final point I wish to make for the Senator, who missed my remarks\nearlier, is that this is so important because there are many students\nwhose families cannot afford Internet at home, and, therefore, their\nonly experience of this is going to be getting it at school. That was\nclearly evident to me at Roberts Elementary in Tallahassee, FL.\n  It is my hope that now with the mellifluous and golden tones coming\nforth from the Senator from Montana, that he would bring us some good\nnews about the negotiations of passing this bill tonight.\n  Mr. President, I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.\n  Mr. BURNS. I appreciate what Senator Nelson had to say, also, on this\nlegislation. This Congress should not go sine die without passing these\nthree pieces of legislation. All three of them are very important. In\nfact, I would say the E-911, the enhanced 911 bill, is probably the\nmost glaring public safety legislation we have worked on in many years.\nOne would think this legislation that says we are going to take the\nmoney that is collected and it has to be spent in our PSAPS--in other\nwords, our communications centers--to upgrade their technology, so that\nwhen a 9-1-1 call comes in from a cell phone we can locate the caller.\nWe have that in wired lines, but we do not have it so much in wireless\nphones. I think it is time that we do that.\n  This is a great piece of public safety legislation, and we have been\nworking on it for about 4 years. One would think that would be a no-\nbrainer. It took us long enough to pass legislation to make a 9-1-1\ncall go into the nearest first responder. It used to be if one was out\nof their home territory and their phone was in roam, they could dial 9-\n1-1 and they were apt to get the 600 Cafe in Miles City, MT. That does\nnot do one a lot of good when they are on the outskirts of Tallahassee,\nFL. It did not know where to go, and now it does.\n  So we think this is very important legislation. The E-911 caucus was\nestablished by folks who work in public safety and public\ncommunications every day. We keep hearing what we\n\n[[Page S12011]]\n\nshould be doing about our communications systems in our cities, but how\ndoes a fire department communicate with the police department, with the\nhighway patrol, and with the Federal agencies? Well, not very good. We\nhave the technology there for them to do it, and folks want to do it.\nThe only thing we lack is the funds.\n  This says take those funds that are collected--when we all pay our\nphone bill, there is a little checkoff there around 50 cents that goes\nto emergency telephone technologies. Well, guess what. We sent the\nmoney to the States. The States balanced their budgets, but they did\nnot spend the money upgrading their communications centers. We think\nthat is just terrible. That is why this legislation needs passing.\nThere is no objection to it. It has passed this body. It has passed the\nHouse of Representatives.\n  Now, for those who do not think they have a dog in this fight and\nthey live in a rural area, take a look at another part of it, which is\nthe Universal Service and Anti-Deficiency Act exemption. This money was\ncollected in universal service for a specific purpose, and it should be\nused for a specific purpose. It is very simple to do the right thing\nand do it right now. What has happened is they have found some abuse, a\nlittle fraud, so across the country they shut down making their\npayments to every school and library on the E-rate. It affects over 70\ncities and schools in my State alone.\n  I come from Montana, and in eastern Montana we have a lot of dirt\nbetween light bulbs. It is expensive trying to bring the new\ntechnologies to smaller schools to upgrade their technologies to take\nadvantage of distance learning. Sometimes it is telemedicine. We know\nthat we have an aging population, a rural population. They are getting\nolder every day. We have to administer our health care in a different\nway. This also affects that.\n  Again, for this body and this Congress, this is an absolute no-\nbrainer. I realize that these are not issues that are great, sexy\nissues that one will find above the fold in their newspaper, but this\nis very important at the community level and to the folks who have kids\nin schools in rural areas. It is important to the infrastructure from\nwhich they learn and receive goods, and most of all health care.\n\n  Also, the spectrum relocation bill is in here, too--again, a no-\nbrainer. What do we want? What do we hear from our first responders? We\nneed spectrum. We need emergency spectrum. We need that spectrum so\nthat we can deploy new technologies as broadband.\n  Years ago, we used to hear a signal and we knew it was either\ntelevision, a picture, a voice, or data. We could differentiate from\nthe signal what it was.\n  We are in a different kind of a world now. It does not make any\ndifference if it is data, audio, video, whatever. It is all ones and\nzeros. It is all digital. So now we do not talk about what kind of a\nsignal. We talk about bandwidth, bytes, megabytes, gigabytes. We talk\nabout this ability to move information, no matter what it is, at the\nspeed of light through fiberoptics and even our new wireless\ntechnologies.\n  What do they say? We have to have spectrum. Even in my State of\nMontana, we can now take the computers that we see used by the clerk in\nthis body, and with a little card in there, get on the Internet driving\ndown the highway. It is not the fastest right now. It is around 56K,\nbut these are the first steps to broadband wireless services that will\nbe deployed in areas where it is very expensive to string a line.\n  All three of these issues are wrapped together in this package that\nshould be passed, and there is no issue that is important enough that\ncan even stand up to the importance of these issues at the closing of\nor the eleventh hour of this Congress. Not one I can think of. And it\nis needed.\n\n  Enhanced 911 services--we have already gone over that.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield?\n  Mr. BURNS. I will yield.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I commend the Senator for his leadership on\nthis issue. Just to back up, about what the Senator was saying, I have\na letter to the leadership of both the House and Senate signed by 34\nSenators, bipartisan, pleading that we pass these items.\n  So I ask the Senator, with this kind of broad support--there is\nreally no opposition to the substance of this--what is holding it up,\nand what are the prospects in these final few minutes of this session\nof Congress that we are going to be able to disgorge this tonight?\n  Mr. BURNS. I say to the Senator, I don't know exactly what is going\non. We know some of the things, but I do not think that is material\nhere. I am just pleading that it gets done. Let's look at the\nimportance of this and our priorities and let's finish our work and go\nhome. To my knowledge, there is not anything any more important than\nthat we finish this, for the simple reason we have schools and\nlibraries now that are receiving no payments. There are no payments\nuntil we pass this legislation. With the support of the administration\nwe should be moving this legislation.\n  There are some who think it should be an appropriated account. It was\nnever in an appropriated account. This money was not collected as\ntaxes. It was collected for a particular purpose.\n  So I say, they signed the letter. My colleague from Florida is\nexactly right, and the Senators who signed the letter are exactly\nright.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator further yield for a question?\n  Mr. BURNS. I am happy to yield.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the Senator. I ask the\nSenator regarding the objection that is being raised, what is the\nchance that that objection will be lifted and that we will be able\ntonight to pass this legislation that is so needed?\n  Mr. BURNS. I tell my good friend from Florida that negotiations are\ncurrently underway.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Very good.\n  Mr. BURNS. We are talking. I think we are going to get this resolved.\n  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then, I say to the Senator, Godspeed.\n  Mr. BURNS. I want to say something. The Senator from Florida has been\nworking with my cochair. The cochair on the Internet caucus is Senator\nClinton from New York. I will tell the Senator, the Senator from New\nYork has just been an absolute champion on this because she understands\nupstate New York and she understands her rural areas. She doesn't just\nunderstand downtown New York. That might be the political base but,\nnonetheless, when she was elected as a Senator she all at once\nrealized, and came to me and said: I have a rural area that I have to\nserve.\n  She has been very diligent. She has worked very hard, especially on\nthe other side of the aisle.\n  I appreciate the contribution of the Senator from Florida, and I\nthank Senator Clinton for her cosponsorship and her work, as well as\nmany other colleagues who have worked with me--Senator Lott, Senator\nFrist, Senator Sununu, and many others who worked to improve this\nlegislation. They, too, place it very high on the priority list of\nitems that should be passed before we go home. The cochairs of the E-\n911 caucus, Representative Shimkus and Representative Eshoo in the\nHouse, who have been tireless advocates, along with Representative Chip\nPickering and many other Representatives--Joe Barton has been a\nchampion on this issue. We have been working on E-911 issues for many\nyears now, and we all agree this is a good product and the final\nproduct we can have this year.\n\n  Mr. President, E-911 services are about as clear an example as you\ncan get of Congress acting in the public interest and in the interest\nof public safety as we could possibly have. If someone dials 9-1-1 from\na cell phone, that person's location should be transmitted to a public\nsafety answering point so the police, fire, or rescue first responders\ncan know exactly not only what to do--they already know what to do--and\nwhere to go. How do we find this dialer of 9-1-1?\n  When we first started to look at emergency services, we found out\nthat 9-1-1 was not the national norm for an emergency number. We found\nmany numbers, in many different areas. Basically, what we did was we\nnationalized 9-1-1. We said no matter where you are and what your\ncircumstances are, 9-1-1 will be the national emergency number. So when\nwe take a look at this, this technology will save lives. It is already\nsaving lives. E-911 services are already being rolled out in this\ncountry, and this bill authorizes some more\n\n[[Page S12012]]\n\nmoney, about $250 a year for 5 years in matching grants made to\nappropriate entities so that progress will occur more rapidly in the\nnext phase of implementation of those two technologies.\n  So I ask my colleagues to not only help us but to take these three\nessential parts of this piece of legislation and pass it, and let's\nsend it to the President for his signature. I think that is about the\nbest Christmas gift we could give to people who rely on emergency\nservices.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS12010"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.4646708257496357, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}