Tom Harkin: “I am proud the U.S. is the world leader in the advancement of technology, providing businesses and consumers faster and…”

“I am proud the U.S. is the world leader in the advancement of technology, providing businesses and consumers faster and better ways to work and to communicate. But even though we have made great progress in technology, much of rural and small town America has been left behind. In the small town of Cumming, IA, where I was born and still have a house I live in when I am not here, we do not have access. We do not even have cable yet. So a lot of people are putting up satellite dishes as the only way of getting adequate information through television. I joined a Senate rural telecommunications task force last year to address these issues and to work, as a group, to pass legislation to help rural communities catch up. Just as cable and telephone companies say it does not make good business sense to provide service to a few customers in Cumming, IA, for example, we know that without this access rural America will suffer and will be left behind in the new digital age. You talk about a digital divide. There is a digital divide and rural America is on the short end of that divide. We are not just talking about high-speed Internet access or reliable telephone lines. We are talking about the lack of access to basic local TV programming--local weather, local news, local school information for rural residents and farm families.”