[Clearly life would not be complete without a Properly Capitalized National Broadband Policy. How else would companies know how to sell high speed Internet access otherwise??? --Declan] --- From: "Leader, Democratic" <Democratic.Leaderat_private> Subject: re: Gephardt-Daschle Letter to President Bush on the Need for a National Broadband Policy Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 13:22:16 -0400 NEWS FROM THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt June 13, 2002 H-204, U.S. Capitol http://democraticleader.house.gov/ Gephardt-Daschle Letter to President Bush on the Need for a National Broadband Policy June 12, 2002 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: As you convene the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology this week, we write to urge you to take quick action on articulating a national broadband policy. We would welcome your leadership in advancing a national plan for broadband and write to provide our ideas for a successful effort. We have already set as our goal making broadband access available to every American by the end of the decade. On April 5, 2001, we announced a detailed and substantial agenda called the "Congressional Democratic E-Strategy for Economic Growth" for accomplishing that goal. Among other things, that agenda called for tax incentives, loans, grants, innovative technology programs, support for the E-Rate and civilian research and development funding, enhancing E-government and facilitating telecommuting. Much of that agenda has already been enacted, but more remains to be done. We believe that bringing broadband and its benefits to more Americans is a national imperative. First, broadband holds a key to the nation's economic growth. As the use of technology and the Internet drove the productivity growth and the fiscal surplus of the 1990s, the use of broadband can once again vastly increase productivity, increasing economic growth and standards of living. Second, broadband is essential to maintaining our international leadership. Other nations are pushing ahead with ambitious national broadband plans and the United States must be prepared to match their efforts because the widespread use of new and innovative technologies are not possible without a broadband connection. Third, broadband is an important piece of homeland security. The proliferation of broadband Internet connections can provide the bandwidth necessary for high-level encryption, real-time first-response communications protocols and rapid dissemination of complex medical information in the event of a biological/chemical attack. Lastly, there are myriad societal benefits that can be realized through broadband. Expert medical care and monitoring can be provided to citizens confined to their home or in remote locations through e-medicine solutions. High quality educational resources can be provided to resource strapped schools and children at home through distance learning. Pollution and road congestion can be greatly reduced through increasing the number of teleworkers. In addressing the broadband issue, we urge you to take a multi-faceted policy approach that includes promoting capital investment in broadband infrastructure, stimulating broadband demand, enabling wireless broadband and investing in the research and development of new technologies. These efforts should advance a range of broadband technologies, including cable modems, DSL, satellite, fixed wireless, mobile wireless, fiber to the home and others. Throughout this effort, we also urge you to focus on next generation technologies that will maximize the bandwidth available to consumers. We recognize that no one policy action or technology will be sufficient, but if we can significantly advance each of these areas, we believe the nation will soon see the benefits of broadband. In the past year, we have led efforts in Congress to move the broadband agenda forward, as outlined in our E-Strategy. We have won passage of the largest program in U.S. history to promote broadband deployment to rural areas, which will spur economic growth throughout Rural America. The initiative, enacted as part of the Farm Bill, will provide up to $750 million each year in low-cost loans to companies that provide high-speed Internet service to rural communities that don't currently benefit from it. We have pressed for passage of a broadband tax credit (S.88 and H.R. 267) to increase broadband deployment in rural and underserved urban areas, and won Senate Finance Committee approval of a tax credit approach. The Information Technology Industry Council estimates that a one-year version of this credit would bring broadband access to 6 million homes. We also strongly supported the successful inclusion of an accelerated depreciation provision in the economic stimulus legislation passed earlier this year in order to increase capital investments in things such as broadband infrastructure. While we believe the federal government should move forward in formulating a national broadband policy, we also welcome and applaud important industry leadership on this issue. The Information Technology Industry Council has released a detailed broadband policy plan, and TechNet and the Computer Systems Policy Project have released broadband reports that set ambitious broadband policy goals. Likewise, the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, made up of some of the nation's leading technology and academic leaders, has released an in-depth analysis of broadband issues. While you or we may differ in our approach or emphasis, these efforts provide a helpful basis in considering a national plan for broadband and demonstrate the commitment of the high tech industry to helping government address this issue. The nation must have a plan to ensure that consumers have affordable broadband Internet access at the maximum speeds, enabling them to experience the full potential of the Internet and the information technology revolution. We look forward to working with you on such an effort. Sincerely, Tom Daschle Richard A. Gephardt Senate Majority Leader House Democratic Leader ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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