Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006
COMMUNICATIONS OPPORTUNITY, PROMOTION, AND ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 08, 2006)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to just comment on a couple of things.
First of all, I rise in support of this rule. Now, there are people on both sides who may say that this rule is not perfect and the bill is not perfect, and they probably would be correct; but I think considering what we can get done this year, this is a very good rule, and this is a very good bill.
I want to call particular attention to an amendment that was made in order that will be offered by me, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Peterson, and a group from the Congressional Rural Caucus. It deals with the issue that many Members of Congress, and I suspect many of our constituents, do not completely understand. It is a new technology called voice over Internet protocol. Why is that important? Well, it is a technology that is growing by leaps and bounds, and it has to ride on the telecommunications system, the interstate highway, if you will; and the interstate system is only as good as its weakest link. Everyone wants to serve the suburbs and most companies want to serve the cities, but when you get out into the distant parts of rural America, it becomes more and more difficult to serve those areas.
One of the ways that we have tried to level that playing field is with what is called a universal service fund, and the base bill says nothing about the universal service fund and the obligation that providers of voice over Internet protocol have to participate in the universal service fund.
So the amendment that we are going to be offering, and I hope Members will consider supporting the amendment, will simply say that nothing in this act shall be construed to exempt the VoIP service provider from requirements imposed by the Federal Communications Commission or a State commission on all VoIP service providers, among others, to participate in the universal service fund.
This is a very important amendment. In many respects, it is innocuous but it is important, especially in rural America; but if you think about it, it is important for everyone because the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas.loc.gov/