William Tauzin: “I suppose everyone in America has heard the term Tauzin-Dingell to describe this bill, but I want to describe the full…”

“I suppose everyone in America has heard the term Tauzin-Dingell to describe this bill, but I want to describe the full and complete name of the bill. The bill is correctly entitled the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001. Mr. Speaker, why is that important? Because that is essentially what the bill does. It ensures that the Internet remains free. Free of what? Free of government regulation both at the State and Federal level and makes sure that the Internet in fact is as free as Americans and people around the world hoped it would be. Secondly, it is about broadband deployment, and I want to associate myself with the fine description of the gentleman from Texas of how this bill delivers access to citizens in the poorest parts of America who will wait forever for broadband services unless we turn lose the creativity of these companies. Let me try to put it in lay terms as I would explain to my buddies at a hunting camp in Louisiana what broadband really is. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost) said it right. Broadband is a system that delivers the Internet. It is about the Internet. It is not about the old world of telephone compensation where the government separates so Americans have to pay more every time you make a distant call. Mr. Speaker, it is about the Internet where distance is irrelevant, where Americans can share data and information with anyone in the world.”