Remarks of Commissioner Clyburn at Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee

Simply put, if you truly believe in the transformative power of broadband, as a tool of digital and economic empowerment, your focus cannot begin and end, with infrastructure. If you believe in universal access to 911, if you believe in education, or healthcare, or civic  engagement, if you believe that all of those national purposes are advanced by ensuring all Americans are connected, then you cannot ignore the affordability side of the equation. The federal universal service program is a four-legged stool and if you fail to address, or saw down one leg, not only would we be unable to declare victory, we would have left millions of opportunities behind on a field of dreams deferred.  So I want to again thank you, for playing such a critical role in maintaining the integrity of our programs and I look forward to finding more ways for us to continue to work together to strengthen, not weaken our universal service stool.