{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2006-12-08-pt1-PgE2143-3", "2006-12-08", 109, 2, null, null, "REGARDING INTENT TO INTRODUCE THE BROADBAND EXPENSING ACT OF 2007 IN THE 110TH CONGRESS", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E2143", "E2144", "[{\"name\": \"Doris O. Matsui\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "152 Cong. Rec. E2143", "Congressional Record, Volume 152 Issue 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E2143-E2144]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n REGARDING INTENT TO INTRODUCE THE BROADBAND EXPENSING ACT OF 2007 IN\n                           THE 110TH CONGRESS\n\n                                 ______\n\n                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI\n\n                             of california\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                      Wednesday, December 6, 2006\n\n  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an important piece\nof legislation I will reintroduce early next year, along with my\ncolleague, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, to encourage the deployment of\nbroadband high-\n\n[[Page E2144]]\n\nspeed Internet service throughout the United States. The Broadband\nExpensing Act of 2007 will allow immediate depreciation of the costs of\nnew infrastructure investments providing broadband connectivity. In\nprevious Congresses this measure has received extensive bipartisan\nsupport with as many as 225 House cosponsors and 65 Senate cosponsors.\nAs the Congress and administration consider various methods of\nencouraging innovation in America, a broadband incentive of this nature\nmust be of high priority.\n  This bill was a priority for my late husband, who worked with Mr.\nEnglish, Senator Rockefeller, Senator Baucus, and the late Senator\nMoynihan to craft it in 2000. They all worked hard on it for several\nyears and built tremendous bipartisan support in both chambers of\nCongress. My husband spent a lot of time discussing this measure with\nhis colleagues in the House, explaining how it would work, seeking\ncosponsorships. It has been a popular measure. On three separate\noccasions it has almost passed the Congress, but each time fell short\nin the House. Three times this bill has passed the Senate, and three\ntimes it has been rejected in conference with the House, to the\ndisappointment of my husband, my colleague Mr. English, and many other\nmembers of this body who supported it and felt it could make a\nsignificant contribution to improving America's telecommunications and\ninformation technology infrastructure.\n  Now we are prepared to make another push for this bill in the 110th\nCongress. The Broadband Expensing Act will provide a temporary two-\ntiered tax incentive to stimulate new investment in this crucial\ninfrastructure: 50 percent expensing for investment in ``current-\ngeneration'' broadband infrastructure in rural and underserved areas,\nand full expensing for ``next generation'' broadband investments in\nthose same areas, as well as residential areas generally. Moreover, it\nis designed to be technology neutral, making delivery of service, not\nthe delivery medium, the factor for eligibility. Any broadband provider\nmeeting the required speeds, measured in megabits of data delivered to\nand from the consumer per second, is eligible, whether such service is\nprovided over telephone wire, cable modem, optical fiber, wireless,\nsatellite, or other forms of technology.\n  It is important to act quickly. Recent reports by the Organization\nfor Economic Cooperation and Development and the International\nTelecommunications Union find the United States lagging in broadband\npenetration compared to other nations. We should not sit idly by and\nallow the United States to fall behind in this crucial area. Just as\nthe federal government stepped in to provide national availability of\nelectrification and transportation in the mid-1900s, we must now ensure\na national system of electronic information.\n  I urge all of my colleagues to support this important measure. I look\nforward to working with my cosponsors and the leadership of both\nparties to see the Broadband Expensing Act become law in 2007.\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-2006-12-08-pt1-PgE2143-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2443459127098322, "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"}