Senator Richard Durbin Invites Participation in Nightly Broadband Policy Discussions
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 22, 2007
1:55 PM
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CONTACT: Senator Richard Durbin
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Durbin Invites Participation in Nightly Broadband Policy Discussions
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WASHINGTON - JULY 22 - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) posted the following open letter to invite all those interested to participate in four nightly policy discussions on America’s national broadband strategy. Durbin is hoping that the discussions will help him draft new legislation to establish a national broadband policy for the United States.
In the letter Durbin said: “I write this open letter to invite you to participate in an experiment – an interactive approach to drafting legislation on one of the most significant public policy questions today: What should be America’s national broadband strategy? . . . I am looking for the best and brightest ideas on what Congress should do to promote and foster broadband.”
Text of the letter appears below:
July 19, 2007
Dear Reader:
I write this open letter to invite you to participate in an experiment – an interactive approach to drafting legislation on one of the most significant public policy questions today: What should be America’s national broadband strategy?
Starting next Tuesday, July 24, I will be engaging in a series of four nightly broadband policy discussions with the online community. During those four nights, I am looking for the best and brightest ideas on what Congress should do to promote and foster broadband.
I will begin each night’s discussion with a conversation about some of the core principles I think are important and then I’ll ask for you to contribute your ideas that will help me craft legislation.
There are two reasons why I’m asking for your help and participation. The first is because I think we need more public participation and transparency in the way Congress crafts significant legislation. This is an approach to legislation that has never been tried before. If it’s successful – as I believe it will be – it may become the way lawmakers approach drafting bills on other issues like education, health care, and foreign policy.
The second reason I’m doing this is because broadband policy is one of the most important public policy issues today. Frankly, America does not have a national broadband strategy and we are falling behind. That means our families don’t have access to the best medical technologies, our students don’t have access to the best educational opportunities, and our entrepreneurs are limited in the markets they can access.
As we work together to draft a bill to solve these problems, the three principles I want to begin with are:
* broadband access must be universal and affordable;
* we need to preserve an online environment for innovation;
* and we need to ensure that broadband technology enables more voices to be heard.
As I said at the outset – this is not the traditional way legislation is written in Washington. Some people think that by giving people other than policy experts and special interest groups a seat at the table, this process will never work. I believe differently and I have a feeling that next week, we’ll prove them wrong.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
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