Got a lot to talk about. With 25 bills introduced in time to be a part of todays hearing. I very much appreciate all of the thoughtful proposals and the great work from the staff, both the republican and the democrat side, and i look for to seeing progress as a move to the next few weeks. These legislative initiatives follow the leadership of President Trumps recent efforts on broadband infrastructure. The bills to be examined in this hearing are targeted at promoting the innovation, cutting red tape, and advancing Public Safety. Its impossible in my a lot of time to highlight each bill butt i do want to call attention to a couple of resolutions expressing the Guiding Principles on broadband infrastructure that should underpin our efforts. First, as noted by vice chairman lance, any funds for broadband inan infrastructure package shod go toac unserved areas. Second, as noted by congressman lotta, the federal government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace. Any federal support for broadband infrastructure should be competitively and technologically neutral. If we adhere to these principles im confident we can avoid the pitfalls of waste, fraud, inefficiency that marred the previous administrations effort on broadband infrastructure. Lastly and perhaps most important, congress should be mindful of the significant amounts of private capital spent to support broadband deployment. Since passage of the bipartisan 1996 telecommunications act, the private sector has invested roughly 1. 6 trillion in their networks. This investment includes wireline, wireless, and other broadband technologies. However, this investment experienced a decline that coincided with the fccs 2015 decision to reclassify the competitive broadband marketplace under title ii of the communications act, an outdated relic of the 1930s monopolyera. I want to reiterate our support for chairman pai who corrected this illconceived policy and returned us to the lighttouch regulatory approach that allowed the Digital Economy to flourish. This lighttouch approach has been the bedrock of Communications Policy since the clinton administration. As i have previously stated history makes clear that countries with the best communications have the highest Economic Growth. Continuing our nations leadership is, and must remain, a bipartisan effort. Im pleased to note our effort has a broad support from a crosssection of the industry. At this time i like to enter iminto the record several lettes of support from american cable association, ctia, ncta, competitive carriers association, Telecommunications Industry association, u. S. Chamber of commerce, power and communication contraction association, and the Wireless Infrastructure association. I am pleased to convene this hearing, and i look forward to the testimony of our witnesses. And with that i yield the remainder of my time to the vice chairman of the subcommittee, mr. Lance. Thank you very much. First of all the state of the union, the chair is doing a terrific job of this subcommittee. Since 1996 the wireless and wireline industries havee invested over 1. 16 in private capital investment. As we consider best to promote broadband bullet and Nextgeneration Network is important we remember the success of private investment in the past and pursue federal policies help and encourage an emphasis on private investment in the future. As our economy becomes more digitized we must injure Broadband Access to all areas of the country. It is important we recognize any federal funds are broadband deployment will be finite and a focused on unserved or underserved areas of the nation. I please were considering the access Broadband Access act which ive introduced on a bipartisan basis. I commend at the chair and the members of the subduing of both sides of the aisle on the impressive package of broadband infrastructure deals where considering today. I look forwardar to hearing the panel. Madam chair, i yield back. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Doyle, you are recognized by this. Thank you, madam chair for holding the steering and thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us today. I want to start off by saying that i share the chairman enzi and his committees goal of ensuring all americans have access to broadband and that we need to come together on a bipartisan basis to address the challenges that millions face today from a lack of Broadband Access, ala lack of sufficient speeds and a lack of affordable options. While its crucial nobody gets left behind, i believe we cannot ignore the lack of competition, particularly among wireline providers and the high cost of service to result in far too many foregoing service. Im concerned about approach were taken today. We are considering 25 bills at this hearing. I cant remember a time when this Committee Held a hearing on so many bills with a single panel of witnesses. We were simply not giving these bills the time and expertise required for theer members of ts committee to fully consider each of these bills and their ramifications. It would seem to me are more prudent to uphold aud series of hearings so members would have an opportunity to discuss and understand the proposals before us. The rushing this process gets short shrift to many s worthwhie ideas for members on both sides of the aisle and precludes these bills from undergoing a truly deliberative process. Itsit my hope chairman blackbun and Committee Staff for the majority can work with us to avoid this unnecessary problem for the future. Its my hope that as we move forward on broadband infrastructure legislation we can does on a collaborative and bipartisan c basis. That being said i am concerned many of the majorities proposals do not address the primary issue of getting broadband to Rural America, and that there is no Business Case for that private investment. If we are serious about solving this problem and we believe People Living in rural areas should have access to reasonably Comparable Service, we needho to appropriate the funds necessary for that buildat up your quick that id like to yield a minute to my good friend ms. Eshoo from california and then a minute and half to my good friend mr. Welch. I think the Ranking Member. Here it is, the second decade of the 21st century, and too Many Americans cannot fully participate in modern life because they do not have a robust broadband connection. Its either unavailable to them or unaffordable. Its our responsibility to remedy this. Thats what ive introduced several bills to clear the way for communities to take control. The communityom broadband act ad the other act create their own networks, and streamline pole attachments to improve efficiency and competition. Muni broadband is deployed and with the policies are in place, such as louisville, kentucky, nashville, tennessee, and soon San Francisco, california, consumers enjoy more access, Better Service and lower b pric. At a recent study, communities with municipal broadband up to 50 lower in costs than private alternatives. The Broadband Community broadband tax open the doors for all community to explore the option. Most especially both of these bills will really boost and make a difference in Rural America here i think of the gentleman for using them to me and i get back to. And i yield the remaining time to mr. Welch. Thank you. We know about 40 of Rural America has no broadband, not slow broadband, no broadband. There is no Economic Future for any part of our industry if it doesnt have highspeed internet. Rural americas being left behind. Nethe other issue is that it mas economic sense for private markets to be expanded in the rural areas. Theres no payback. Bottom line, we need funding to make certain that role broadband is real. And we look upon this committee that wrote to President Trump, mr. Cramer, mr. Kinzinger, mr. Lotta. We want infrastructure funding thats real so that there is broadband in Rural America. Absent funding, there is no broadband. Its as simple as that. This this is a good hearing on several good bills, but there is nothing before us that is going to address u the funding that we need for infrastructure for Rural Broadband. In my call to the committee is that we get real and acknowledge that we have to have money for this buildup, much as our predecessors in congress provided funding for the buildout of electricity in Rural America. No funding, no broadband. Its as simple as that. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. At this time chairman walden, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and special our witness. A big panel because of a lot of really important ideas from our members. Weve got 25 bills, eight from democrats, the other 177 from republicans. This committee is used to get with big important issues, sometimes with a bills that are maybe hundreds of pages long. These are important policy statement in t some cases, streamlining processes in other cases. The whole concept isro look at e broad range of ideas that members have brought to this committee for its consideration and thats what at the subcommittee level we thought it was important to put as many of these bills up for the public to see because its on our agenda and website but for us to begin getting our heads about as move legislative process. Im delighted to have the bills before us and delighted you all are before us. I remember the last administration did the stimulus bill, a whopping 7 billion. They pushed out the door before they produce the maps before they told us were uncertain areas in america. Were tryingd to get the other side of that coin identified. What are the unserved and underserved areas . What reporting mechanisms are poorly being conducted today to show us that . We want ntia and others help us figure that out. When the taxpayer or ratepayer money is invested is not invested to overbuild. Its to reach out to the 29 million americans, 23 million, 39 rural areas that dont have access to d highsped broadband. The 7 billion you have to remember in the market they are spending close to 80 billion a year on broadbandnd deployment, 1. 6 trillion between 1996 i think it is and 2006. But anyway, the big investment is done in the private sector. There is public money that is spent. Our job is to make sure public money is spent appropriately and helps close this Digital Divide. You want to talk about rural. My district which stretched from the atlantic to ohio. 69,341 square miles. Ive got places in my district where theres one person for every nine miles, powerline. We live live this gap every day. We are trying to close it. There are multiple ways to close it but one of the best ways is to make sure that we can expedite the closure through reform siding, targeting the Financial Resources ratepayers and a government specific to those areas that are underserved, and helping with this country forward to connectivity like weve never seenry before. 2012 we worked a bipartisan manner to free up spectrum. That is being built out there want to move forward with 5g development. We are not venezuela where government doesnt need to own, operate, control the command structure, that kind of a network. That may be Security Issues and i imagine they are we all ought to be apprised of nfs for breathing either classified or nontwo figure what the issues are. We want to be smart about having a secured network for the newest innovation but i dont know having a government run it is necessarily the best way to go. We are looking at those issues. Its an exciting timee for america. We want to be in the lead. We can do a hearing every week for 25 weeks and then move forward or on we can do when hearing with 25 25 bills, figue out our ideas, come together as committee in a bipartisan way, do with making america again clear in the forefront on developing up connectivity, wired and wireless, and the newest innovation and Technology Much like were trying to do with Autonomous Vehicles come as a look and by friend and colleague in a while with a self drive act. Lets get it done. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Is there any other member requesting time . Madam chair . I have a request. The letter that was signed consent to the president asking for funding to be submitted on the record. Without objection. Mr. Pallone, i yield you five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. One year ago President Trump promised one tradoc ever structure package that would bring democrats and republicans together. For our part in may of last Year Committee democrats introduced a comprehensive info structure package to cross all areas of this committee is jurisdiction. Here we are with a series legislation from the president and instead where proposals from House Republicans that most the conflict with the plant that was just leak out of the white house. In stark contrast Committee Democrats developed a legislative proposal to build the type of modern l resilient infrastructure americans need and deserve. At a time with our nations infrastructure is either crumbling or desperate need of modernization its time to make real and significant investment to thees future. The lift america act authorizes 40 million so that deployment of secure in resilient broadband would also provide over 20 billion for 2 Drinking Water infrastructure, over 17 billion for modern, efficient and Resilient Energy infrastructure, over 3 billion for Healthcare Infrastructure and almost 3 billion for brownfield redeveloped. The lift america act which will dollars where they need creating jobs can vitalizing community and addressingg serious threats to human health and environment. It wouldre address led school, medical schools in the country, improve our resilience to the impact of Climate Change and it would do all that without going back environmental safeguards as we hearing is a major component of the president s plan. When it comes to broadband weve also put forward additional proposals building on the stro g foundations of the lift america act, our bills would ensure were investingg efficiently, basing our decision on the data and reaching urban, rural and tribal lands. Over the last couple of weeks weve seen bipartisan and bicameral agreement we dedicated funding to improve access to broadband nationwide. Despite this consensus, republicans on this committee have decided to unveil a series of partisan bills that dont address the real problems. These bills are simply window dressings, unnecessary. Urban versus rural, industry versus local government and Broadband Access versus our environment. The republican proposal not improve Broadband Development and may indeed hurt workers and the economy in parts of the country. I appreciate republicans scheduling the hearing and including some democratic proposals but im concerned the majority simply is trying to jam too much into this when hearing. Seven witnesses discussing 25 bills will not t help the amerin public understand these proposals, let alone the members of this committee. We doit not even have the relevt agencies had help us understand how they will interpret the often conflicting directions that are included in the republican bills. We are a little over a year into this administration and all Washington Republicans have to show the American People are checked the box and design to paper over the republican spending on infrastructure, their emotion of our privacy rights and elimination of Net Neutrality. When it comes to governing this subcommittee in my opinions was falling short. With that i yield the balance of my time to mr. Ms. Thank you. In todays digital age x highspeed internet is simply a sense of excess why we must do more to bridge the Digital Divide. The committee is finally beginning to advance the bipartisan comets and solutions we were sent here to find. A bipartisan Rural Wireless access act introduced by mr. Loebsack would help the fcc provide targeted federal assistance to the point Wireless Service in rural areas with the worst coverage. My bill, the tribal Digital Access act would help close the Digital Divide in Indian Country by reinforcing the importance of the fcc universal Service Fund Programs that serve tribal communities. Tribal lands are the most underserved regions in our nation in terms of Broadband Access. We have a responsibility to honor our legal and moral obligations in this commonsense helps do just that. I urge the committee to move these bills as quickly as possible, along with other Bipartisan Solutions before us here today. I yield back my time to mr. Pallone. And i yield back, madam chair. The gentle