Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is a broad, bipartisan amendment-- Warner-Crapo-Kirk-Shaheen-Bennet-Webb. It basically does three things in the broadband area. It accelerates access to those areas that are underserved. As a matter of fact, we have a 2009 USDA IG report which showed that less than 3 percent of loans provided by RUS went toward unserved communities. This will move forward in that area. Second, it creates greater access and transparency and accountability standards for RUS and applicants. These are items that were brought forward from the GAO and the IG of the USDA and CRS. It also allows greater levels of accountability in ensuring that those States that collect data by address--that that information is related to RUS, so we don't have counties where certain parts are served and other parts are left unserved, never able to get access. It has the broad support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Taxpayers Union, the League of Rural Voters. I ask bipartisan support of this amendment. Mr. LEAHY, Mr. President, I have long believed that Congress must work to enact policies that promote the deployment of broadband in rural America. There is no doubt that rural areas lag behind the rest of the country when it comes to access to affordable, quality, high- speed Internet. As the Internet rapidly evolves beyond what the slow speeds offered by dial up service can handle, broadband service is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.…”