Bart Stupak: “We need to extend the time because, in all honesty, the Department of Commerce has made many mistakes in this program…”

“We need to extend the time because, in all honesty, the Department of Commerce has made many mistakes in this program, and to ensure that all Americans have an opportunity to make the transition and to get their converter boxes, we have to make this delay. The other side has argued that converter boxes are readily available. Time and time again in my district in rural northern Michigan, we've gone to the stores. There are no converter boxes available. Our coupons are only good for 90 days, and then they expire, and we have got to start the process all over again. Even though we repeatedly warned the Department of Commerce this would happen, they did nothing until Christmas Eve when they notified us that they've run out of money, there's no more converter boxes, and this is a disaster waiting to happen. So I'm very pleased that the Obama administration has stepped forward, and this situation has now required that we delay the transition to allow this new administration the opportunity to properly prepare the Nation for DTV transition.”