WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference today at which the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) announced its endorsement of the Broadband Internet Regulatory Relief Act of 1999 (S.877). In April, Brownback introduced the legislation which is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Nickles, Craig, Burns, Abraham, and Roberts.

“I am extremely pleased that ITI is endorsing my broadband bill,” Brownback said. “ITI represents the leading high-technology companies in the United States. Their support for this legislation demonstrates that the Broadband Internet Regulatory Relief Act is a common-sense approach to ensuring the availability of high-tech services throughout the United States.

“Broadband services present us with the opportunity to radically change the way we communicate, work, learn, and shop. ITI's endorsement speaks volumes for the benefits of this legislation, and its ability to speed the deployment of broadband services in all parts of the nation, especially in rural areas.

“Congress needs to ensure that high-speed Internet access is being made available over the public telephone network as rapidly as possible. While asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service is being rolled out in many urban and densely-populated suburban areas, most rural consumers do not have access to it. We need to ensure that high-speed Internet access is available to rural consumers as soon as possible. I encourage my colleagues to join me in advancing this legislation,” Brownback said.

ITI is the leading trade association of U.S. providers of information technology products and services. It advocates growing the economy through innovation and supports free-market policies. ITI members had a worldwide revenue of more than $440 billion in 1998 and employ more than 1.2 million people in the United States.

Attending the news conference today was ITI president Rhett Dawson and representatives from America’s leading high-technology companies.