Ed Markey: “Mr. Speaker, I rise in wholehearted support of this very important legislation, and I rise first to praise the chairman…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in wholehearted support of this very important legislation, and I rise first to praise the chairman of our subcommittee, which my long observation of him has led to I think the conclusion, not only by me but by everyone who observes this whole area of telecommunications policy, that he is the leading satellite samurai warrior in Congress. He of all Members has led the battle to ensure that the satellite industry will be able to compete and to provide vigorous competition for the cable industry, the product and the pricing that revolutionizes the way in which we receive video in this country. Now, I give him credit, but I know that the real inspiration is and always has been his father, who is the original satellite philosopher of Cajun country. He instilled a philosophy of competition into the gentleman from Louisiana which I deeply appreciated, and have been educated to appreciate, since we have about the same number of satellite dishes in my congressional district as we have hydroelectric dams.”