At age 48, Mr. Davis lacked the information technology skills I typically require for service on my staff. I am duty-bound to respond to the needs of 600,000 Baltimore-area citizens. Efficiency and effectiveness demand a professional staff with computer proficiency and Internet skills.

I made an exception when I hired Mr. Davis because of his lifetime of experience working with young people in our schools and his commitment to their success. I gambled that he could learn the computer skills he would need.

My gamble on Norris Davis paid off. During the time he worked in my office, Norris taught my other staff members invaluable lessons about how best to reach out and connect with young people going astray.

As Norris taught, he also learned. 

"I was afraid in the beginning," Norris once admitted to me, "but the staff helped me gain the computer skills that changed my life."

Norris Davis now holds a responsible position with the Maryland Census 2000 initiative, a position that pays a good salary. From his own life experience, Norris now understands that information is power.

All of us whose ancestors were once legally prohibited from learning how to read should understand as well. Given the realities of American life, skill-based education is the 21st Century equivalent of "40 acres and a mule."

Too many Americans continue walking down the dusty back roads of poverty. For all the working people in this country, computer skills offer access to the information superhighway that can lead to the American Dream. The alternative is a lifetime dominated by the relentless desperation of low-paying work.

For several generations, government service has offered access to that better life for millions of capable Americans otherwise denied the opportunity all Americans deserve. Today, however, in the government and private sectors alike, that road to success demands more than talent and determination.

As Norris Davis learned, success requires skills in the new information technologies that are driving our economy.

That is why Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski and I support expansion of the federal "e-rate" program that is providing public computer and Internet access in our schools and libraries.

It is also why I introduced the Federal Workforce Digital Access Act last week, joined by a bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors including Constance Morella (R-MD), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) and Albert R. Wynn (D-MD). We are determined to provide every federal employee with a free computer and Internet service at home.

The public is well-served by investing in the human potential of our federal employees. Under my proposed legislation, citizens' interaction with their government would become more efficient and effective, and government efforts to reduce paperwork and cut costs would be encouraged.

The cost of providing every federal employee with a computer, Internet access and training would be significant – over a billion dollars during the next three years. Doing so, however, would be a wise and necessary investment.

The Federal Times recently reported that federal agencies already face a technology skills gap. Due to retirement, we will soon lose up to 30% of our most knowledgeable government workers. We recruit and retrain the high-technology federal workforce the public deserves.

To offer the public cost-effective and responsive service, the federal government must remain a model employer. We must compete for talent and skills with private companies like Ford, Delta Airlines and Intel that are already providing computers to their workers.

Service to the public and fairness to our federal workers go hand in hand.  Good government demands that we give hard-working civil servants like Norris Davis the information and power that can change their lives and serve the public good.

The federal government must continue to lead the way across the digital divide. As a nation, we must travel together from the back roads of poverty to the information highway of success.