Having me on. It is really important that we are talking about Rural Broadband. Ive been engaged in this for years. I am one of the cofounders of the Rural Broadband caucus and we also have groups that are meeting all the time. This is not a republican or democrat or independent issue, this affects everyone out in the rural areas. And it is important for us to get this out as soon as we can because, especially during this covid19, we have really seen the effects in what can be done when we have the broadband out in our rural areas. Everything from telehealth ive talked to so many doctors that said it has been a savior out there for people to have telehealth, but then again, if you dont have the access and you have a problem so that is one of the first things ive heard right off the bat ive heard from people on the telehealth side. We also hear on the educational side, here in the state of ohio, they started closing the schools and they decided, well, we will have the kids do it remotely from home in teleeducation. But again, if you are a student that comes from an area like part of my district do not have any broadband, you are in trouble. So we have seen billions of dollars going into it now, not only on the education side, but also the money we put in for the telehealth side. You go across the entire line, it is very important. Side, a piece of legislation including the ag bell, will help our farmers. It is important we get it out here now. Ther to expand his across country, how much money are we talking about . Rural broadband is important for all of us in rural areas. I have been involved for years. I am one of the cofounders on the rural caucus forgetting broadband out. Weget the dollars out there, have to have accurate math and that is one of the things i was working on the Left Congress in this congress to make sure broadband data we have, we have accurate maps. A couple years ago when the fcc brought the maps out, if you know your district, you know where you have dead spots and i knew right off the bat that the northwest ohio, the maps i were looking at were not accurate. Thatant to make sure before you expend dollar, you are expending the dollars reagan ind them, especially unserved areas, underserved areas. We have to get into underserved areas, the 5 that is out there. It is important that we do that. Telehealth,ave for we have to have it for our educational system, we also have to make sure we have my legislation in the farm bill. Peter lets bring sam sabin into this conversation. Sam thanks so much for being here. I would love to continue along these lines of discussing Rural Broadband and how we find that expansion but also talk a little bit about the bills we are seeing in congress from a myriad of different lawmakers in recent weeks. It feels like every week, there is a handful of new broadband bills, it is hard to keep up. Im curious if you are concerned at all, although there is interest from so many lawmakers, it is wonderful, i am curious if you are concerned that this could create too much noise and it might be hard for lawmakers to find a path forward as we are thinking about how to expand both access and affordability for broadband moving forward. Rep. Latta when you are looking at broadband and getting it out, it is important that we Work Together. This is across the aisle. It cant be a republican or democrat piece of legislation, it will have to be one we have all worked on that we can come together on. One of the great things about the energy and Commerce Committee in the last federal congress, the number of bills that have come out of our committee in a bipartisan manner, i believe in the last theress, i think 93 of bills that came out of our committee were bipartisan. We need to Work Together to make sure that we have a good piece of legislation because we have to be talking to each other to make sure it gets done. Hown, it is not cheap and we are going to get it done, so when you are looking at the spectrum of options out there, how we might be able to utilize funds to help get broadband across the country. Sam of course. In that same regard, when it comes to funding, the chairman from the fcc has called on congress to further fund the keep americans connected pledge so companies can continue to allow customers who have been impacted by the economic upheaval of the pandemic to be able to keep their Internet Service and not risk termination. What are the odds that congress will take up pais call . Rep. Latta i commend the chairman for getting out there. When you look at the hundreds and hundreds of companies that made that pledge to make sure that people were not cut off, and when you think about the situation we are in, especially in real areas, having that access is your lifeline. Rightalth, education, down the line, it is important that it is there. It is a good program he has put together and it is something that we can go forward. We have seen a resurgence of some parts of the country and some folks might not be able to get back to work as soon as they would like. It is great to see where the Unemployment Rate are going in a dominant thats a downward trend but the chairman has led the way on this to make sure people can stay connected. Sam of course. Go ahead. Peter i just wanted to say, congressman, if you could move your computer a little closer, we dont want to lose your audio with these words and i also wanted to ask you about the maps, because all of the mapping, i have never heard one person say the mapping is accurate. Why has that been the case for so many years . Rep. Latta a good question on the maps because as these were being drawn through the years and looked at, im not sure how the data was being inputted in. I think it is important, when we looked at those maps as members, and i have good relations with the commissioners at the fcc and they call over and Say Something is wrong, these things are not right. Everybody starts saying that. It is a good thing. What happened was they admitted at the fcc, we have to look at this. We do have a problem. Towe put money out there help get these maps correct. We had legislation. I was part of it from the get go. It is important that we get it done. If the maps are not right, when we are going out to get the dollars into areas where you need to have them, it wont happen. In some cases, you might put money into areas that already have services underserved and not getting dollars to the unserved areas. Peter go ahead, sam sabin. Sam congressman, you brought up the issue of virtual classes and sharing that broadband is available for school. It is pandemic continues, unclear whether or not schools will be in person or virtual, but say they are returning to a virtual space in the fall. What concerns do you have about how students and teachers and other School Officials will access the internet . Talk about when you kids going back to school, i have talked to so many parents that want to see their kids back in school this fall and in some cases, some schools in my area will start the second or third week of august. We are looking at a little over a month before classes resume. In some areas, they are talking about students do some days in class and other days virtually. Important because from the federal side, the dollars we put out there to help the schools make sure they have the dollars to buy the computers suree ipads and making they have the internet connection, because again, we offered during the beginning of thingsocal libraries or or places would have wifi hotspots for their students. They could come into. We dont want kids to have to go to a Fast Food Restaurant to get it and in some cases, they are closed because of what is happening. We get thetant that dollars out there but again, we have seen a lot of money go out for k12 and we had dollars appropriated on the college side because that is also important to talk about. We have soleimani students in manyge we have so students in college that dont want to have their education interrupted. The universities said, we will do this online. I talked to University Professors and president s and worked, theyhas have worked those out. Overall, it is important that as we look at the next thing i have as we look at the next month and a half, as students go back to school, we want to make sure they are in class if they can be and leave it to local districts to make those decisions and how they will have kids separated in the classrooms and also if they are going to be using the virtual side. Sam of course. With that, conversations are starting again about a possible stimulus bill that could be passed by the end of this month or august or so. You woulds how much like to see dedicated to broadband in this upcoming stimulus bill. In the last few, there has not been a lot dedicated to this issue. Rep. Latta when you look at the next stimulus, that will be tough to talk about. When you look at the ppp program, doing the extension bit of money left over that had been appropriated. Making sure people get it out there for keeping businesses open. So there is a lot of talk to figure out, do we go forward . If we do, some of the reports that are out there, it might be a more scaleddown piece of legislation than you look at the one that was 1. 2 trillion. Peter one of the bills that the house did pass is the infrastructure bill. Do you agree that broadband should be included as an infrastructure item . Rep. Latta when we look at what the democrats put out, it was a democrat piece of legislation, it had no republican input at all. As you go forward, you have to have the communication between the democrats working on the legislation, not just being a oneway street. , as we goding side forward, there is legislation , about 10 of the spectrum options throughout september 2022 would be another way to help get the dollars out there. We are talking about getting involved across the country. Sam congressman, switching gears a touch, i would love to discuss the lifeline program. Recent data shows that only about one quarter of those who qualify for the program, which subsidizes internet and phone services for lowincome americans, about a quarter of those who qualify are currently enrolled. I am curious to hear why you think that is and what role congress can play, if any, in and sharing more people know about the program and sign up and take advantage of it. Rep. Latta like a lot of different things, folks who know , whenogram is available the coronavirus hit, we did town halls and begot information out as much as we could for people across our district saying what might be available, but there could be, how to access it. But communication is a big part of it. And knowing where to look. Abcs oflooking at the the federal government, when i was looking at different things, if you go to this one spot, you find it. What we would do, we take whatever the agency would have inputted onto our homepage for my office so people could pull it up, a special thing would pop up and say, here is something out here that you might want to be looking at. Sam i guess what im hearing, it is ensuring that people know about the program. Such ald we coordinate program to ensure that people are actually telling those who are qualified that this program exists and you can sign up for it . Again, it is the key medication thing. Year, i had a seminar on stamps. I had folks from the irs that helped conducted. So much of it is getting the information out there. In this case, directed at seniors, we said, we need to get this information out to all the senior centers. So the people coming in know about it. You have to look at where people will be gathering. We have a problem right now that folks might not be able to come into certain places. Getting the information out to so they know it is there. Have beenal advocates calling on congress to expand the amount that lifeline subsidizes during the Public Health emergency. Is that something you would support, raising the amount . Rep. Latta again, you have to look at the dollars and where they are coming from. That is one of the things i had not heard on our side being discussed right now. Part of it is making sure people know that something is available to be accessed. With all the heads of the Tech Companies coming to , whatgton for a hearing is the reputation in Silicon Valley right now in washington . Is atta you know, it it depends who you are talking with. What isooking at happening there, the sword and shield. We want to make sure we are getting Accurate Information. It was a couple years ago we breaches. G the data it is making sure they are getting us Accurate Information that we can work from and they are telling it as it is. Legislate andt other folks cant regulate if we dont have the right information. So if you are looking at the whole issue as to who is controlling the information out there, we want to make sure it is free flow under the first amendment, and under the section that gives them protection through the years, it is a sword and a shield. They can take certain content down, but at the same time, they wouldnt be held liable, but we dont have a situation where all of a sudden somebody out there were someone or some group within the company is saying we find this offensive, but free speech. It could be the other parties that choose free speech. This is where it is important that folks realize, in a democracy, we have to make sure we have a free flow of information so that information again,t there because, they have to make informed decisions. Peter a lot of people say section 230 sponsored by senator braun white and government chris cox is the reason the internet is so vibrant. Do you think it needs to be reformed at this time . Opinion, youn my have to really look at it. At the same time, it is there for a reason. We want to make sure we have that free flow of information out there. It is interesting today where people are getting their information from. It is not from traditional sources that have been out there years ago. It used to be people washed the 11 00 news people washed the 11 00 news and the local paper. That information is coming across the internet from everywhere and in a lot of of cases, people need to make sure they are looking at multiple sources to make sure that he sometimes just like in my office, when you find something and say, this is great, do you have a second source for that . If we cant find a second source, it is not something you want to use. Howwhen you think about people will tell me i had constituents tell me this, when i asked them and they say, i found that on the internet, i said, everything on the internet is not always true. People actually tell me, it has to be true because you cant put anything on the internet that is not true. That is why we need people looking for things. That weit is important have that free flow of information and the internet has a great purpose, but you cant have one side saying we will control the speech that is out there. Dont like your position on something. That is not the purpose. 230 make sure if there is bad content, you can get rid of it and be held liable. Peter sam sabin. Sam congressman, with regards to section 230, we have seen bipartisan groups of senators introducing amendments to section 230, we are hearing the energy and Commerce Committee is working on an amendment. Could we see House Republicans possibly introducing their own amendments to section 230 or even hopping on the bandwagon of other bills we have seen . To come up again, with a good piece of legislation, it will take bipartisanship. It cant be a oneway street. On 230g become up with again, it is going to have everybody at the table to come up with it. If we have a piece of legislation that comes out that is totally partisan, you can get a few the house on a oneway boat, but it is going down in the senate. When you look at the number of days we have left in this congress, it is important that things we need to get done are done in a bipartisan manner. Sam of course. Maybe in the line of thinking of scrutiny against Tech Companies, this week, the Trump Administration said it was mulling a possible ban of tiktok, a gap that is popular with generation z and owned by a chinese based company. I am curious if you think a potential ban of this app is warranted or if it could be taking a step too far. Rep. Latta in what i have read thateard, it is important we are talking about cybersecurity. One of the things we talk about in the last congress, i chaired the consumer subcommittee on our energy and Commerce Committee. About every other word to be heard was cybersecurity. People to make sure that are protected out there and dont have the potential of being hacked and valuable information that could be pulled from that hack. What thehen state department has come out with, it is important we have to look at it, make sure it doesnt pose a threat. Exposed tont people a cyber threat and all of a den have that doors backdoor. S. Nextpening gets to the level, which really can cause serious damage and harm. Thatnt to make sure cybersecurity is a top issue. I know the state department has said that. ,eter just to follow up another chinese company, huawei, and another have been declared National Security threats by the fcc. Do you agree with that . Rep. Latta we put the dollars out to replace legislation and there is talk to have more dollars out to help Smaller Companies that installed at equipment. I have sat through a lot of briefings and you have to make sure that people are protected. On the techi have side, whats really on the energy side, to make sure our electrical grid is protected. Everything we do out there, as i mentioned, it has that cybersecurity word at the front of every sentence because we have to make sure we are protected and these Smaller Companies across america that , they will have to have help. Concern that we make sure our networks are protected and you dont have it where another country can do physical harm, and that is why it is important we make sure. Peter we have time for one more question. Sam perfect. With that, congressman, we are coming up on a big president ial election. And we have awins Democratic Administration in january, are you concerned that the progress t