Doris Matsui: “I strongly support the bill before us today which will keep our government operating and make transformative investments…”

“I strongly support the bill before us today which will keep our government operating and make transformative investments to tackle some of the Sacramento region's most pressing challenges. Despite the progress we've made with this bill, I believe we missed an important opportunity to accomplish a bipartisan goal: securing American telecommunications networks by fully funding the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. As an original cosponsor of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act which created the Reimbursement Program, I believe it is both an economic and national security imperative to implement it fully. However, the significant funding shortfall in the Program has introduced severe uncertainty for small internet service providers and undercuts their ability to execute plans to rip and replace vulnerable network equipment. This poses a very significant national security threat and without additional resources, the program cannot fulfill its mandate. That is why, in May, I led a bipartisan group of 20 Members urging our colleagues to fully fund this shortfall. As we continue to discuss a path forward on extending the Federal Communications Commission's auction authority and plans for the lower three gigahertz band, I believe it must include plans for addressing the shortfall in the Reimbursement Program.…”