S 2582 IS
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2582
To require a report to Congress on a national strategy for the
deployment of high speed broadband Internet telecommunications services, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 5, 2002
Mr. LIEBERMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To require a report to Congress on a national strategy for the
deployment of high speed broadband Internet telecommunications services, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `National Broadband Strategy Act of 2002'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States needs to develop a long-term investment and growth
strategy that will restore the unprecedented gains in structural economic
productivity with high employment growth experienced by the United States in
the late 1990s.
(2) The gains in structural productivity with high employment growth in
the late 1990s resulted from unprecedented investments in information and
communication technology.
(3) It was the precipitous decline in these investments that took the
United States economy into recession before September 11, 2001.
(4) The United States needs to focus on stimulating resurgence in these
investments to regain vibrant growth in structural productivity and high
employment growth.
(5) If productivity increases at the rate of 1.5 percent per year, the
standard of living will double about every 46 years, or about every two
generations. On the other hand, if productivity increases at the rate of 3
percent per year, the standard of living will double about every 23 years,
or about every generation. This difference results from the so-called
miracle of compounding. To take advantage of compounding, a long-term
economic strategy for the United States must focus on structural
productivity growth.
(6) Productivity growth has enabled American workers to produce 30 times
as much in goods and services in 1999 as they produced in 1899, with only 5
times as many workers. This growth in productivity has increased the
standard of living in the United States from $4,200 in 1899 to $33,740 in
1999 (expressed in 1999 dollars). Growth in structural productivity will
bring about growth in wages and salaries, profits, and government tax
receipts.
(7) The productivity gains of the United States in the late 1990s broke
a 25-year trend. From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, United States
productivity grew sluggishly, at an annual rate of about 1.5 percent. During
the final 5 years of the 20th Century, it grew at nearly double that
rate.
(8) The high cyclical productivity growth the United States has
experienced in 2001 and 2002 results for the most part from a reduction in
employment and increased utilization of existing capacity.
(9) The United States needs a strategy to generate structural
productivity growth arising from the development and deployment of new
technology that enhances both efficiency and employment.
(10) The United States needs to prepare now for the retirement of the
Baby Boom generation. If the United States does nothing regarding Social
Security, it is estimated that by 2030 the annual shortfall between amounts
in the Social Security Trust Fund and the amount required to meet
obligations of the Fund will reach $814,000,000,000 (in 1999 dollars). The
United States has approximately $7,4000,000,000,000 in obligations coming
due, and it is advisable to have our fiscal house in order, hopefully with
no national debt, when these obligations must be paid. Restoring structural
productivity and high employment growth is essential to ensure that the
United States can honor these obligations.
(11) Making affordable, high speed broadband Internet connections of 10
Mbps-100 Mbps available to all American homes and small businesses has the
potential to restore structural productivity and employment growth.
(12) High speed broadband Internet applications for voice, data,
graphics, and video will revolutionize many aspects of life at home, school,
and work. High speed broadband Internet will transform health care,
commerce, government, and education. The benefits of a successful high speed
broadband Internet deployment strategy to the quality of life and economy of
the United States will be immeasurable.
(13) Traditionally, the United States is considered the world leader in
the development and commercialization of new innovations and technologies.
However, the United States lags far behind other countries in broadband
deployment, including South Korea, Canada, and Sweden. By 2005, the United
States is projected to fall to ninth place in broadband deployment,
surpassed by Asian markets in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Scandinavian
countries Denmark and Norway, and the Netherlands.
(14) The United States will need high speed broadband Internet for
public health, education, and economic welfare, just as the United States
now needs universal telephone service. High speed broadband Internet
applications are capable of revitalizing the economy and solving countless
problems for average Americans. The applications fall into the areas of
e-education, e-health, e-commerce, e-government, and e-entertainment.
(15) The benefits that will arise from development and implementation of
a national high speed broadband Internet strategy amply justify a priority
for such a strategy. The Federal Government will act one way or another on
many of the key policy issues affecting broadband deployment. The only
question is whether it acts in accordance with a strategy, or piecemeal.
(16) Adopting a national strategy for broadband deployment is consistent
with the strategies the United States has adopted to speed deployment of
other essential infrastructure, including railroads, electric power,
telephone service, and radio and television. Each of those technologies has
been the focus of a national economic strategy. There is a consensus that
the Northwest Ordinance, Morrill Land-Grant Act, and GI bill, and laws for
transcontinental railroads, rural electrification, and the interstate
highway system, embodied useful and successful strategies for the future of
the United States.
(17) In facilitating high speed broadband Internet deployment, the
United States should rely on markets and entrepreneurs and minimize the
intrusion of government. Americans need to be creative and innovative when
government acts to make sure that it provides value added.
(18) In crafting a comprehensive strategy to advance deployment of high
speed broadband Internet, a broad range of policy options should be
addressed, and the Administration needs to provide leadership in developing
these options and establishing a priority among them.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR HIGH SPEED BROADBAND INTERNET DEPLOYMENT.
(a) STRATEGY FOR INCREASING STRUCTURAL PRODUCTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT GROWTH-
Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
President shall submit to Congress a report setting forth a strategy for the
nation-wide deployment of high speed broadband Internet telecommunications
services.
(b) ELEMENTS- The report under subsection (a) shall include the
following:
(1) A goal for the deployment of broadband telecommunications services
nationwide, including a goal regarding the speeds necessary to facilitate
applications needed to stimulate structural productivity and employment
growth.
(2) A proposal for policies to foster and maintain competition among
firms offering broadband telecommunications service, including competition
to deploy high speed broadband Internet of 10 Mbps-100 Mbps.
(3) A proposal for incentives to enhance demand for high speed broadband
Internet telecommunications service, including demand for purposes of
serving Federal mission areas such as homeland security, distance learning,
health, scientific collaboration, and electronic commerce.
(4) A proposal for incentives to facilitate and enhance the supply of
high speed broadband Internet telecommunications service.
(5) A proposal to enhance global electronic commerce.
(6) A proposal for the optimal allocation of Federal Government
resources on research and development regarding high speed broadband
Internet telecommunications service, including recommendations for the
allocation and prioritization of Federal funds.
(7) A proposal for the optimal allocation of spectrum in furtherance of
the deployment of high speed broadband Internet telecommunications
service.
(8) An assessment of various limitations to the deployment of high speed
broadband Internet telecommunications service, including matters relating to
taxation, privacy, security, spamming, content, intellectual property, and
rights-of-way, and proposals for eliminating or alleviating such
limitations.
(9) An assessment of the impact of the proposals under this subsection
on structural productivity and employment growth in the United States and on
the international economic competitiveness of the United States.
(10) Any other proposals or matters on the deployment of high speed
broadband Internet telecommunications services that the President considers
appropriate.
(c) FORM- The report under subsection (a) shall include a draft proposal
of any legislation required to implement the goal described in paragraph (1)
of subsection (b), and of any of the proposals set forth under paragraphs (2)
through (8) and (10) of that subsection (b).
END