Bob Latta: “I am pleased to see the Democrats bring so many ideas today as it comes to rural broadband, and because of that, we will…”

“I am pleased to see the Democrats bring so many ideas today as it comes to rural broadband, and because of that, we will not oppose this amendment. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson) on our committee has been a strong advocate of improving the 477 data at the FCC and how to have the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the NTIA, more engaged in mapping by aggregating resources across the Federal Government. He was part of an effort last fall that shared a draft reauthorization of NTIA with the Democrats that would have helped get more granular information. Unfortunately, our friends on the other side of the aisle put down their pens on this effort. In our markup last week, Mr. Johnson offered an amendment that was voted down by the majority that would have eased the title II albatross from small rural carriers. Sadly, this was rejected. Coincidentally, we saw a number of the Democratic amendments made in order to study the problems of rural broadband deployment. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”