Part B Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Garrett of New Jersey

Part B Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Garrett of New Jersey -- (House of Representatives - July 08, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would be very much against the interest of rural America. There is no community in this country that will have a decent economic future if they cannot be competitive by being attached to modern technology, and that certainly includes broadband.

The gentleman has mentioned the economic recovery package and the funds that have been appropriated there, and he has made much of the fact that that money has not gone out. We are only 4 months into a program that is supposed to last 30 months, and so I urge the gentleman to wait a few months to see what happens on that project. I think you will see money moving out.

The only other point I would make is this: If you think there is too much money for broadband in the budget, the worst place in the world to take it out of is the USDA. When this program was first proposed in the stimulus package, the Obama administration proposed putting all of the money in the Commerce Department. People like me objected because we know the history of rural America. We understand why REAs had to be created to go into rural areas because the big power companies wouldn't bother, because they couldn't make enough money going into rural areas. It's the same score now. Your big companies don't want to go into rural areas without subsidy on broadband. The fact is you can trust the Agriculture Department to focus much more on the needs of rural America than you can the Commerce Department. That's why we put the additional money in. And to take $400 million out of the Agriculture Department now would be a major mistake if you care about the future economic health of rural America.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source