Marsha Blackburn: “I thank the vice chairman, Mr. Lance, for the work that he has done on this issue and the ranking member, Mr. Doyle, for…”

“I thank the vice chairman, Mr. Lance, for the work that he has done on this issue and the ranking member, Mr. Doyle, for his work on this. As Mr. Doyle mentioned, many of these issues are complex, and they are things that we do approach on a bipartisan basis. The bill that we have before us on rural call completion is something that Mr. Young and Mr. Welch have put time and effort into. They fully understand that while so many of us who work here in an area where a call going through is something that you just take for granted that it is going to happen, that in many parts of our districts, like my district in Tennessee with rural counties, many times you will have those dropped calls or they are degraded calls, or you cannot get the call to go through at all. In times of emergency and in times of trauma for families, when they are trying desperately to get in touch with elderly parents or with home healthcare providers, to get that constant busy signal just adds to that stress of life and that concern for the wellbeing of those who are on the other end of that phone. Mr. Speaker, I commend Mr. Welch and Mr. Young for the job that they have done to push forward with this legislation. As was mentioned earlier, we have previously passed this in the House, and we are pleased that the Senate has moved forward, has taken this up; and we are seeking to finish this up and move it to the President's desk. Mr.…”