Congressional Record United States of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 106Th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 146 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2000 No. 73 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. and was the new economy in American society. home. When we ask the question of called to order by the Speaker pro tem- Today, over 100 million Americans are why are they less likely to have Inter- pore (Mr. ISAKSON). using the Internet, and 7 new people net access or computers at home, they f are on the Internet every second. Sev- tell us that it is because of the cost. enty-eight percent of Internet users al- They would like to have a computer at DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO most always vote in national, State home for their children to be able to do TEMPORE and local elections, compared with 64 their school work, they would like The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- percent of nonInternet users. It took their children to have access to the fore the House the following commu- just 5 years for the Internet to reach 50 Internet so that they can access the Li- nication from the Speaker: million users, much faster than when brary of Congress to do their school pa- WASHINGTON, DC, compared to the traditional electronic pers, but they do not feel they can af- June 13, 2000. media. It took television 13 years to ford it. I hereby appoint the Honorable JOHNNY reach 50 million and radio 38 years to So clearly the cost of Internet access ISAKSON to act as Speaker pro tempore on reach the same audience. creates what some call the digital di- this day. The Internet economy generated an vide, but clearly as well is the need for J. DENNIS HASTERT, Speaker of the House of Representatives. estimated 302 billion U.S. dollars in an agenda to provide digital oppor- f revenue in 1998, employing 4.8 million tunity. workers. More workers are employed in When we look at the costs, I believe MORNING HOUR DEBATES the technology economy than auto and we have an important choice to make The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- steel and petroleum combined, and the as we talk about the information su- ant to the order of the House of Janu- average high technology wage is 77 per- perhighway and giving every American ary 19, 1999, the Chair will now recog- cent higher than the average private access to the information super- nize Members from lists submitted by sector wage elsewhere. As I noted ear- highway. We have to make a choice, the majority and minority leaders for lier, one-third of all new economic and that choice is do we want the in- morning hour debates. The Chair will growth is generated by the technology formation superhighway to be a toll- alternate recognition between the par- economy. way or a freeway. Well, clearly, if we ties, with each party limited to not to I am proud to say I am from a tech- want to address the concern that lower exceed 25 minutes, and each Member, nology State. I represent the State of and moderate income families have, except the majority leader, the minor- Illinois. Illinois ranks fourth in high and that is that cost is the chief bar- ity leader, or the minority whip, lim- technology employment. Illinois ranks rier, we need to work to make sure ited to not to exceed 5 minutes, but in third in high technology exports, so Il- that the Internet, the information su- no event shall debate continue beyond linois is clearly a technology State. I perhighway, is a freeway. 9:50 a.m. have had the opportunity many times So many have pointed out that our The Chair recognizes the gentleman to talk with friends and neighbors who new economy is growing because of a from Illinois (Mr. WELLER) for 5 min- are involved in the new economy, and tax-free, regulation-free, trade barrier- utes. we talk about who has access to the free climate, but we need to move for- f Internet. Over 100 million Americans ward again to create more initiatives have access to the Internet, are on line, to continue to work to eliminate the THE INTERNET AND THE NEW and 7 new Americans go on line for the toll booths on the information high- ECONOMY first time every second. So clearly way. Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, today we there is a great opportunity, not only I was proud just a few weeks ago to are enjoying very good economic for information, but also for employ- introduce legislation we call the DATA growth, and I am so proud this Con- ment and moving up the economic lad- Act, legislation designed to help lower gress played a role by balancing the der. and moderate-income families go on budget and cutting taxes for the middle They tell me that it seems that the line, to become part of the new econ- class, boosting our economy. The key higher the income level of the family, omy. Educators back home in the part of our economy today is what the more likely that they are on line. south side of Chicago and the south many call the New Economy, the tech- If a family has an income of $75,000 or suburbs that I represent, they tell me nology economy. more, they are 20 times more likely that they notice a difference in chil- Let me give my colleagues some sta- than a family with a lesser income to dren who have a computer and Internet tistics that really illustrate the role of have Internet access or a computer at access in the home versus those who do b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H4223 . VerDate 01-JUN-2000 01:09 Jun 14, 2000 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A13JN7.000 pfrm02 PsN: H13PT1 H4224 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE June 13, 2000 not, their ability to compete and do cial and educational costs to the gov- migrants to Guam was over 7,000. This their homework. ernment of Guam as a result of this is a population of 140,000, and this ex- I am proud to say that some major free and unrestricted migration are ac- ceeds the numbers that are going to employers in the Illinois area, as well tually estimated to be between $15 mil- Hawaii and other areas. as across this country, have stepped lion to $20 million annually. This is not the same as problems nor- forward to help solve that so-called Unfortunately, this year's Interior mally referred to in addressing the im- digital divide by providing computers Appropriations provides only $4.58 mil- pact of immigrant issues in the 50 and Internet access as a basic employee lion to Guam because of budgetary States. The obligation to Guam is clear benefit. What that means is the em- scoring problems that the House Com- in the law; the obligation is written ployees of Ford Motor Company, Amer- mittee on Appropriations had with the into the treaties of free association be- ican Airlines, Delta Airlines and Intel, way in which the administration had tween these new countries and the everyone from the janitor, the laborer, identified the source of funding within United States, and the obligation to the assembly line worker, the flight at- the Office of Insular Affairs. This is a the people of Guam is clear. I am hope- tendant, the baggage handler, all the very serious issue which hopefully will ful that we will be able to work on this way up through middle management to be resolved in the context also of cur- through the process of conferencing, senior management, will now have rent renegotiations of these Compacts and we are grateful for the fact that computers and Internet access in their between the United States and the Fed- this still remains a high priority for homes for their kids to do their school erated States of Micronesia and the Re- the Clinton administration. work. It is a wonderful initiative by public of the Marshall Islands. f the private sector and I salute them I simply want to emphasize that and congratulate them. As a result of Compact-Impact Aid has been a Fed- STOP TB NOW ACT FOR EFFEC- that, 600,000 American working fami- eral responsibility since 1986 which has TIVE TUBERCULOSIS TREAT- lies will have computers and Internet only recently been addressed for Guam, MENT access at home, many who before never and 1986 was the year that these Com- could afford it. That is a great thing. pacts went into effect. I understand The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under Many in the Fortune 100 are looking that the House Committee on Inter- the Speaker's announced policy of Jan- to and following the lead of these 4 national Relations Subcommittee on uary 19, 1999, the gentleman from Ohio great companies, but their tax lawyers Asia and the Pacific will be holding an (Mr. BROWN) is recognized during morn- tell them that if they do, that it will be oversight hearing later on this month, ing hour debates for 5 minutes. treated as a taxable employee benefit, and I certainly hope, and I plan to raise Mr.