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That legislation has passed committee. It is waiting a vote here in the full House of Representatives. The House of Representatives just this past

[Page: H2640]  GPO's PDF

   Mr. Speaker, I would also point out that there is a number of initiatives in the Committee on Ways and Means that I serve on which would also help provide computers in the school. I am proud to say that the House Committee on Ways and Means is now considering the New Millennium Classrooms Act, legislation that would increase the amount of the charitable deduction that a business would receive if they donate their surplus computers to schools.

   Those are good ideas, good ideas to help in the classroom, good ideas to ensure that our children have an opportunity at school in how to use a computer , that teachers know how to use those computers, that teachers also know how to train them, but the other solution I believe to helping eliminate so-called digital divide, providing greater digital opportunity, is to find ways so that families could have computers and Internet access at home, so that when school children bring their homework home, they have got a computer at home to work on it, a computer they can use to solve their problems and to access the Internet for research, so that they can contact the Library of Congress, the greatest library in the world, via the Internet, and, of course, have that literally at home as a research tool to prepare their schools paper. And that is a challenge.

   As I mentioned earlier in the statistics, many of these low-income families that do not have computers identify the costs of Internet access as being the barrier that prevents them from having computer and Internet access. So how can we solve that challenge?

   I am proud to say a major employer in our country, but also a major in the District that I represent, and I have two Ford auto plants in Hegewisch and Chicago Heights, that I represent would point out that companies have stepped forward, major corporations have stepped forward in our country, Ford Motor Company, Intel, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and have stepped forward in that effort to help ensure that their workers have computers at home so their workers children have those computers for their school work. Think about that.

   American Airlines has 100,000 employees, between Ford Motor Company, American Airlines, Intel and Delta Airlines, 600,000 workers, every one from the guy who sweeps the assembly line floor, to the CEO, every one of those families, universal access to Ford Motor Company's families, to the Internet in computers, as a result of a program they are now offering, which will provide as an employee benefit computers and Internet access.

   It would be an employee benefit the same as a pension or as your health care coverage, having a computer at home and subsidize reduced rate Internet access. Think about that. American Airlines, 100,000 employees, Intel, American Ford Motor Company and Delta Airlines, a total of 600,000 families that will benefit from this type of program.

   I believe we should find more companies willing to step forward to provide digital opportunity on a universal basis for their employees. There is a consequence. We discovered that when Ford and Intel and American and Delta stepped forward to provide this benefit for their employees, computers and Internet access to help their children learn at home that there is a tax consequence.

   The consequence was that this new benefit for employees having a computer and Internet access was taxable, which meant the worker would have to pay higher taxes in order to have that computer and that Internet access, and that is a question; is that right? I don't believe so.

   To me, it is just good government policy to encourage private employees to help eliminate the digital divide, to provide greater digital opportunity. That is why I am proud that just prior to the Passover on Easter break, before Congress took a 2-week break to be back home in our districts, that I was joined by my colleague the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. LEWIS) in introducing what we call the DDATA Act, the Digital Divide Access Technology Act, legislation that treats this computer and Internet access benefit that is provided by private employer to employees as a tax-free benefit.

   It treats it the same as an employee contribution to a worker's pension, as an employer's contribution to a worker's health care benefits. It just make sense.

   My hope is this legislation will receive bipartisan support and move quickly through the House. Ladies and gentlemen, we want to eliminate the digital divide. We want to eliminate the digital divide by creating digital opportunity at school, as well as in the home. I am proud of that. It is important initiative. Both initiatives deserve bipartisan support.

   We also want to provide greater digital opportunity in the workplace. One of the ways we need to do a better job here in the Congress, where we can stay out of the way, but also bring fairness to the Tax Code, is to recognize the need, the need to modernize and update the tax treatment of technology in the workplace. Technology changes pretty rapidly.

   Mr. Speaker, today, private employers are replacing the computers in their office every 14 to 16 months, but under our current Tax Code, our employers and private businesses, whether it is the realtor or the insurance agent, as well as the big corporation, they have to carry those computers on their books for 5 years. They are depreciated over a 5-year period, even though that computer is replaced every 14 months.

   Essentially, our Tax Code is discouraging private employers and business from taking advantage of the latest technology, because the Tax Code says if we are going to depreciate that you have got to keep it on the books for 5 years; that really delays the decision to upgrade the technology.

   Now that we are in the global economy, do we not want the business community and our employers and those who use computers in the workplace to have the latest technology to compete? I think we do, and that is why I introduced legislation called the Computer Depreciation Reform Act of 2000, legislation which will eliminate that 5-year depreciation schedule and recognize reality here in the 21st century, and, that is, the need to reform depreciation and essentially what we call expensing in government jargon which means you can fully deduct the cost of that computer in the first year; 1 year, rather than 5, that recognizes the 14 to 16 months that you replace your computer .

   Before I close, I am going to mention the last tax initiative that I believe deserves support that is now before the Committee on Ways and Means. Many poor families, as I noted earlier in the statistics that I share, have stated that the costs of Internet access in computers at home is a chief barrier to having those computers and having Internet access for children and their families in order to help them to do their schoolwork and do their research for school papers at home.

   I have talked about solutions that Republicans are offering to ensure that computers are available at school and Republicans solutions to ensuring that computers are available at home, but I am also proud to say that there is legislation which I hope we bring before this House also early this summer, which will again help reduce the costs of those computers.

   Frankly, what we are doing under this proposal is to eliminate what was once a temporary tax on your telephone, that was put in place during the Spanish-American war to pay off the Spanish-American war debt, probably the best example of one of those taxes that never ends, because when that tax was enacted 100 years ago, it was a luxury tax, because not many people had telephone. They figured they stick it to rich people and, of course, over time we now have telephones. And we are all paying this tax, and it was conveniently forgotten to end it. Three cents on every dollar of your telephone service is now collected and goes to Uncle Sam.

   Mr. Speaker, if we want to reduce access costs to the Internet, we have to recognize that the majority of people who access the Internet obtain their

[Page: H2641]  GPO's PDF

   Let us end that Spanish-American war tax. Let us repeal the telephone excise tax, and think about it if it is 3 percent, that means that your grandmother, who is on a limited income, who uses the telephone to call her grandchildren across this country is paying that 3 percent the same as the millionaire who may live across the street.

   Ladies and gentlemen, it is a regressive tax as well, so we can reduce the costs for lower-income families, the Internet access by repealing the telephone excise tax.

   Ladies and gentlemen, we have some big challenges before us and the new economy is contributing so much to the America's future, an economy that is driven by technology and an economy that has grown because government stayed out of the way. If we continue to want to see the new economy grow and technology provide greater opportunity for the American people, then I believe we need to continue that approach of a tax-free, regulation-free, trade barrier-free new economy.

   We have some solutions. Solutions that promote education. Solutions that promote education as a way of contributing to the new economy. We also have solutions to address the so-called digital divide. I believe we need to provide digital opportunity in school, at home, and in the workplace, and that means we need to pursue a tax-free, trade barrier-free and regulation-free new economy, because that is what it is all about, digital opportunity for our kids and for our future.

   Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address this House this evening.

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