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| Press Releases |
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Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Improvement Act
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), with the cosponsorship of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), introduced today the Broadband Data Improvement Act, S. 1492, which seeks to improve the quality of federal broadband data collection and encourages state initiatives that promote broadband deployment.
“The first step in an improved broadband policy is ensuring that we have better data on which to build our efforts,” said Chairman Inouye. “In a digital age, the world will not wait for us. It is imperative that we get our broadband house in order and our communications policy right. But we cannot manage what we do not measure.”
The Broadband Data Improvement Act specifically would:
- Direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reevaluate its current 200 kilobit broadband standard. It also would require the FCC to create a new metric known as “second generation broadband” to be used to reflect network connections capable of reliably transmitting high-definition video content.
- Direct broadband providers to report broadband availability and second generation broadband connections within 9-digit zip code areas.
- Direct the FCC to conduct inquiries into the deployment of advanced telecommunications services on an annual, rather than periodic, basis.
- Direct the Census Bureau to include a question in its American Community Survey that assesses levels of residential computer use and dial-up versus broadband Internet subscribership.
- Direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to develop broadband metrics that may be used to provide consumers with broadband connection cost and capability information and improve the process of comparing the deployment and penetration of broadband in the United States with other countries.
- Direct the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy to conduct a study evaluating the impact of broadband speed and price on small businesses.
· Authorize a 5-year, $40 million per year program that would provide matching grants to State non-profit, public-private partnerships in support of efforts to more accurately identify barriers to broadband adoption throughout the State.
Chairman Inouye’s full statement follows. The bill is attached.
“Broadband communications are quickly becoming the great economic engine of our time. Broadband deployment drives opportunities for business, education, and healthcare. It provides widespread access to information that can change the way we communicate with one another and improve the quality of our lives. From our smallest rural hamlets to our largest urban centers, communities across this country should have access to the opportunities ubiquitous broadband can bring. The state of our broadband union should be broadband for all.
But the news on this front is not all good. Last month, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that the United States has fallen to fifteenth in the world in broadband penetration. In some Asian and European countries, households have high-speed connections that are twenty times faster than ours—for half the cost. While some will debate what, in fact, these rankings measure, one thing that cannot be debated is the fact that we continue to fall precipitously down the list. In 2000 the United States ranked fourth; last year we dropped to twelfth; and just last month we dropped to fifteenth. The broadband bottom line is that too many of our international counterparts are passing us by. For this we are paying a price. Some experts estimate that universal broadband adoption would add $500 billion to the U. S. economy and create more than a million new jobs.
In a digital age, the world will not wait for us. It is imperative that we get our broadband house in order and our communications policy right. But we cannot manage what we do not measure. So the first step in an improved broadband policy is ensuring that we have better data on which to build our efforts.
That is why I am here today to introduce the Broadband Data Improvement Act. This legislation will improve the quality of federal and state data regarding the availability of broadband service. This, in turn, can be used to craft policies that will increase the availability of affordable broadband service in all parts of the nation. This legislation will improve broadband data collection at the Federal Communications Commission and Bureau of the Census. It will direct the Comptroller General and the Small Business Administration to study our broadband challenge. It will encourage state initiatives to improve broadband adoption by establishing a state broadband data and development grant program that will authorize $40 million for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
With too many of our industrial counterparts ahead of us, we sorely need the kind of granular data that will inform our policies and propel us to the front of the broadband ranks. I believe that the Broadband Data Improvement Act will give us the tools to make this happen.
I ask unanimous consent that the full text of this bill be printed in the Record.”
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| 24th - |
Inouye, Stevens Introduce Communications R&D Bill
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an effort to restore America’s competitive edge in communications research and development, Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) today introduced the Advanced Information and Communications Technology Research Act, S. 1493. The Act establishes a communications research and development program within the ...
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| 24th - |
current Press Release |
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| 23rd - |
Senate and House Subcommittees Reschedule Joint NASA IG Oversight Hearing
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation announces the rescheduled date for a Joint Hearing between the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics, and Related Sciences and the House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight on Oversight Review of the Investigation of the NASA Inspect...
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| 23rd - |
Inouye Pledges to Work with Leadership to Pass Energy Efficiency Package
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Leadership introduced a comprehensive energy efficiency package that includes S. 357, the Ten-in-Ten Fuel Economy Act of 2007, which the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation reported by voice vote to the full Senate on May 8.
Introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Commerce C...
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| 23rd - |
Commerce Committee Announces U.S. Trade Relations with China Hearing Date
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Commerce Science, and Transportation announces an Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism Subcommittee Hearing on U.S. Trade Relations with China for Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 2:30 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.
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| 23rd - |
Stevens Calls for Internet Tax Moratorium to Be Extended
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today called for the Internet Tax Moratorium to be extended during the Commerce Committee hearing entitled “Communications, Taxation and Federalism.” The Internet Tax Freedom Act was first passed by Congress in 1998. The law prevents states and localit...
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| 18th - |
Senate Passes Stevens Resolution Condemning Harmful Foreign Fishing Practices
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Senate Resolution condemning harmful foreign fishing subsidies introduced by Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, unanimously passed the Senate last night. The Resolution is cosponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Maria Cantwell ...
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| 17th - |
Stevens and Murkowski Sponsor Resolution Declaring June “National Internet Safety Month”
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and 15 other cosponsors in introducing Senate Resolution 205, which designates June 2007 as “National Internet Safety Month.” The Resolution, which passed the Senate last night by unanimous consent, calls on Internet ...
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| 16th - |
Commerce Committee Reports FAA Investment and Modernization Act, Cameron Gulbransen Child Auto Safety Act, Nominees
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation today approved S. 1300, the Aviation Investment and Modernization Act of 2007, as amended, which would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and modernize the nation’s air traffic control system, and S. 694, the Cameron Gulbransen Child Auto Safety Act of 2007, as amended, which would manda...
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| 15th - |
Stevens Joins President in Urging Senate to Ratify Law of the Sea Treaty
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, today joined President George W. Bush in urging the United States Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Commonly known as the Law of the Sea Treaty, this accord would regulate and govern activities that occur on or within the world&rs...
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| 14th - |
Commerce Committee Announces May 16 Executive Session Agenda
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation announces the agenda for its Executive Session scheduled for Wednesday, May 16, 2007, at 2:30 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building:
1) S. 1300, Aviation Investment and Modernization Act of 2007
2) S. 694, Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007
3) PN 147, Nomination of Dav...
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| 10th - |
Stevens Says We Must Work to Understand Global Climate Change and Its Effect on Fish Stocks
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, today said we must research the effect that global climate change is having on the oceans and our fisheries, during the Commerce Committee hearing titled “The Effects of Climate Change and Ocean Acidification on Living Marine Resources.”
Below is Sena...
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| 8th - |
Stevens Says Fuel Economy Increases Long Overdue
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, today made the following statement during the Senate Commerce Committees Executive Session on S. 357, the Ten-In-Ten Fuel Economy Act.
Below are Senator Stevens’ remarks from today’s hearing:
“Thank you Chairman Inouye for your continued com...
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| 8th - |
Commerce Committee Reports Fuel Economy Bill
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation today reported S. 357, the Ten-in-Ten Fuel Economy Act, as amended, by a voice vote. The Act would revise corporate average fuel economy standards to achieve a nationwide fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by the year 2020. The bill also would create, for the first time, fuel economy standards for medium-duty ...
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| 3rd - |
Inouye and Stevens Cosponsor Bill to Reauthorize the FAA
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) today joined Senators Jay Rockefeller (D – W. Va.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to cosponsor legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and modernize the nation’s air traffic control system. Th...
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| 3rd - |
Stevens Calls for a Reduction in U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, today called for reductions in the United States dependence on foreign oil during the Commerce Committee’s hearing on pending Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) legislation.
Below are excerpts from Senator Stevens’ comments at today’s heari...
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| 3rd - |
Stevens Introduces Resolution to Fight Harmful Foreign Fishing Practices
- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Vice Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee today introduced a Senate Resolution against harmful foreign fishing subsidies. The resolution is co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Trent...
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