Bill Clinton: “I support the effort spearheaded by my colleagues, Senator Burns and Senator Dorgan, and have serious objections to the…”

“I support the effort spearheaded by my colleagues, Senator Burns and Senator Dorgan, and have serious objections to the Bush administration's proposal to gut the only national program we've ever enacted to get broadband high speed Internet connectivity deployed across our country. It was just last year that Congress passed, as part of the farm bill, the only national broadband deployment incentive I am aware of that has been enacted by the Federal Government--a program that was supposed to provide over $700 million in loans a year to help get broadband to all parts of the country--$700 million in loans a year to help create and bring jobs to rural parts of the country--$700 million a year to help improve health care and education delivery to places like Upstate New York, rural Montana, North Dakota, Alaska, Iowa, and all across the country--$700 million a year to help improve emergency communications systems so that our first responders can actually receive those calls for help. From a fiscal perspective, you couldn't ask for a better deal. It takes just $20 million in Federal resources to leverage over $700 million in loans--$700 million in loans plus at least another 20 percent in investment from the private sector. Has the program been popular? You better believe it has. In just 9 months since the Rural Utilities Service published regulations for the broadband loan program, the RUS has received applications that total over $1 billion.”