Why Broadband Matters: Senate Hearing Recap

[Commentary] Last week, Daily attended a Senate hearing in person for the first time. But out of the 23 Senators on the Commerce committee holding this hearing there were only three in attendance: committee chairman Sen. Inouye, Sen. McCaskill, and the infamous Sen. Stevens (aka Mr. Tubes). Over the course of the hearing three other Senators showed up but by the end there was only Chairman Inouye. but the Chairman made the most of the opportunity. He shared his belief that broadband is just as important an innovation as the printing press, that it's a shame we don't have this universally available and utilized, and that something must be wrong if we who were the pioneers of the Internet are now not much better off than a third-world country. Two are important points he made are: one, if we have no broadband policy, than this becomes a political issue, which it has, pitting left vs. right at a time when we need to all be working together and when we're all in general agreement that broadband's important and we need to be doing more to spur deployment and adoption; and two, he expressed his frustration over the fact no one can tell him how much it'll cost to get these networks built and fully utilized. He implored the presenters to send him and his colleagues more hard data about costs, efficacy, and the like, that they're starving for information to help guide their decision-making. He even went so far as to say that he's got no problem putting in an earmark, he just needs to know for what, how it will help, and what it will cost.