Political Quotes

“as chairman of the Telco Subcommittee, I want to focus for a second on the DTV provisions. Last year the Congress passed the 9/11 Commission Report Implementation Act, which contained a sense of Congress saying that the Congress must pass comprehensive DTV hard date legislation this session and that any delay would delay the ability of public safety to get much-needed spectrum for interoperability. Mr. Speaker, today we are taking a significant stride towards fulfilling that commitment that we made to public safety. The legislation before us sets a hard date of December 31, 2008, for the end of the DTV transition, at which point the broadcasters will return their analog spectrum. Setting such a hard date will enable public safety to get access to that spectrum for interoperability, spectrum that it was promised way back in 1997. It will also enable the auction of the remainder of that spectrum for advanced wireless services. Moreover, it will give consumers adequate notice and time to get ready for the transition and this legislation sets aside a portion of the spectrum proceeds to fully fund a robust digital-to-analog converter box program. The legislation also included a provision that I helped author with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) and the gentleman from New York (Mr.…”