Political Quotes

“I also rise to support H.R. 2566, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2016, a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Representative David Young and cosponsored by a host of people, including members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Representatives Welch and Loebsack. This bill has a basic goal: ensuring that all Americans' phone calls go through. Several years ago, the Federal Communications Commission found that telephone customers were having significant problems with call completion in rural areas. Consumers were reporting false busy signals, calls not arriving, or long pauses after dialing the number. This matters not just for rural Americans, but also for people like my constituents in the Chicago area who want to reach loved ones across the country. We need reliable telephone service to keep us all connected. Call completions are often related to intermediate providers, the middleman hired to route calls. H.R. 2566 requires intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards. This is a very important step to make sure that we can stay connected to one another. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”