Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007

Floor Speech

INTERNET TAX FREEDOM ACT AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - October 30, 2007)

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Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his leadership on this issue, as well as that of the two gentlewomen from California, Congresswoman Eshoo and Congresswoman Lofgren, who have been advocates of a permanent extension of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the House leadership has now seen fit to schedule a vote on a bill to extend the Internet tax moratorium for longer than the mere 4-year extension contained in the House-passed bill.

However, I'm still extremely disappointed that the majority did not allow any amendments to H.R. 3678 when it was considered by the full House. The handling of that bill 2 weeks ago by the House leadership is unfortunately reflective of the stranglehold that leadership has placed on the will of the majority in this Congress.

I had introduced legislation, along with Representative Eshoo, to make the ban on Internet access taxes permanent, and that legislation had garnered nearly 240 bipartisan cosponsors before the House was forced to vote on the 4-year extension. These cosponsors represent a strong bipartisan majority of the Members of this body. However, with absolutely no explanation, the majority party cut off all opportunity for amendments to that legislation on the House floor, where I have no doubt an amendment to make the ban on access taxes on the Internet permanent would have passed with a very strong majority.

During committee consideration, the House Judiciary Committee even resorted to obscure procedural tactics to reverse a vote for an amendment in committee to extend the moratorium from 4 years to 8 years. Because all but one Democrat, Congresswoman Lofgren, on the committee voted against an amendment I offered there to extend the moratorium for 6 years, I assume that to be consistent they will vote against the 7-year extension before us today, but we shall see.

With regard to the merits of a 4-year extension, we heard arguments that the Senate would not accept anything longer than a 4-year extension. However, that has proven not to be the case. Now, House leadership has been forced to schedule a vote on a bill to extend the moratorium for 7 years because the current moratorium expires tomorrow. It's a shame they did not do this, and more, voluntarily when they had the chance.

Instead, the Senate, and I, too, join in commending Senator Wyden and Senator Sununu in the bipartisan effort that was made in the Senate, which passed a more reasonable bill with a longer term of protection for American taxpayers.

The bill before us today extends the moratorium for almost twice as long as the House-passed bill, and while I would prefer a permanent ban, this is a vast improvement over current law. This bill will continue to help ensure that the digital divide does not grow between those who can and cannot afford broadband Internet access.

The bill will also help ensure that businesses have more certainty when making business decisions about whether to deploy broadband to areas they do not currently serve, such as rural areas across the country.

I urge the Members of this body to support this important legislation.

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