Larry Pressler: “Americans are great and diverse thinkers. Unfortunately, not enough of that original thought and invention takes place…”

“Americans are great and diverse thinkers. Unfortunately, not enough of that original thought and invention takes place in the big gray stone government buildings that sit around Washington. What we need to do is to try to unleash American ingenuity. At a minimum, we need to make sure we do not block it. I will continue to fight to make sure we do not--whether it is thought the comprehensive telecommunications reform bill, spectrum policy reform or public broadcasting reform. In conclusion, Mr. President, let me say I think it is time that we fundamentally think about spectrum policy reform in this country. I think we must think about the taxpayers. The Commerce Committee has been charged to raise $17 billion, give or take a few half billion. Indeed, we are told that we are supposed to round everything off to a half-billion dollars. So, having grown up on a farm in South Dakota and being told to round things off, in my response to a half-billion dollars, that is quite a change from the kind of money that I usually think about in my life. In any event, the new potential uses of the spectrum of the property of the American people--as William Safire says, they should be auctioned off. How else will we do it? The auction system has been used successfully for some of the earlier spectrum that we have auctioned off.”