week, an annual campaign for greater public access to government. it's also c-span's anniversary week, 38 years ago on 1979, the house of representatives opened its debates to tv cameras for the first time in the cable television industry launched c-span to bring the congress into america's homes. >>. >>. >> mister speaker, on this historic day, the house of representatives opens its proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. i want to congratulate you for your courage in making this possible and the committee who has worked so hard under the leadership of congressman charles groll to make this a reality. television will change this institution, mister speaker, just as it has changed the executive branch but the good will far outweigh the bad. and from this day forward, every member of this body

must ask himself or herself how many americans are listening to the debates which are made. when the house becomes comfortable with the changes brought by television coverage, the news media will be allowed to bring their own cameras into this chamber and in the meantime, there is no censorship. every word is available for broadcast coverage and journalists will be able to use and edit as they see fit. the solution for the lack of confidence in government, mister speaker, is more open government at all levels. i hope for example that the leadership of the united states senate will see this as a friendly challenge again to "gentlemen, we have the time. >> the marriage of this medium and are open debate has the potential mister speaker to revitalize representative democracy. >> and in 1986, the cable industry launched c-span2

carry live. all our congressional coverage is broadcast live, archived and searchable for free at c-span.org. radio one online are provided as a public service of cable and satellite affiliates across the nation. >>. >> monday starting at 11 am eastern, c-span2 will provide live coverage of supreme court confirmation hearings for judge neil corset, all current justices were passed about tv coverage of the supreme court at their confirmation hearings. >> my new best friend senator thompson assures me that televisi cameras a nothing to be afraid of but i don't have a view on that. i do think it's something that i would want to listen to the views if i were confirmed. >> are you suggesting to the chairman that we move quickly on that bill before he's gotten in on it?

>> i think me and my colleagues behaved differently than they would otherwise. perhaps they would be accustomed after a while. the press is part of our environment, get excited from the environment. but in the courtroom, i think that the tradition has been that we not have that outside distraction and i am inclined to say them in the appellate court. >>. >> my view on that is i don't

see any problem with televised, it would be good for the public. >> at that time, i voted in favor in the judicial conference ofexperimenting with television in the courtroom . that has been carried out. >> about whether we should allow

television cameras in our court and i argue that we should do it. i thought that it would be a useful - >> did you have a view on this issue? >> i did. this is when they should have been the center my car. the majority was fearful that the numbers would be -- >> can you promise the same result? >> i have positive experience when i have had cameras in the courtroom. i participated, i have volunteered. but i have said that i think it would be a terrific thing to cameras in the courtroom. and the reason i think is when you see what happens there, it is an inspiring sight. and so i think will be a great thing for the institution and more important i think it would be a great thing for the american people.

>> the second and ninth second courts of appeal continue to permit video coverage of their proceedings. all 50 state supreme court allow video coverage of their arguments. the canadian and british supreme court stream their hearing live. the us supreme court permits audio coverage only on a delayed basis. the supreme court confirmation hearings for judge neil gorsuch live monday starting at 11:00 a.m. eastern. on c-span two. c-span.org and on the free c-span radio app. >> the chair and members of the federal communications commission testified on capitol hill about net neutrality, high-speed internet access and the availability of new spectrum. the senate congress committee hearing is about two hours 45 minutes. [inaudible conversatio]

>>. good morning welcome today's hearing the oversight of the federal patient. i should point out the committee has jurisdiction over sports that last night being south dakota state university jackrabbits punched their ticket to the nca tournament to attornment by winning other tournaments.

so a lot of folks are having south dakota today. [laughter] all right. listen, the last time we met, i think it was six years ago since then things have changed. new chairman in charge of the agency and several members of this community which this is their first sec hearing. i ask you to treat each r respectfully, if you want to ask for guidance wherever and whenever possible. while still in the early days, the new leadership seems to heed this advice it. the first actions under the chairman was to make much of the reforms to improve the agency's processes and transparency. counter to the chairman's predecessors who often sought to amass as much power in the chairman's office is looking pretty simple -- the chairman

has emphasized that bridging the digital divide will be one of the corporate's will done the agency under his leadership. representing a rural state where many people are still without broadband services that is a goal we both share. indeed the fcc has taken her steps to advance broadband deployment by moving forward with the long-delayed second phase of both mobility fund and reconnect american fund. this begs a question as to why they were not completed much sooner. nevertheless it is refreshing to see the agency take decisive action to help bring broadband to every corner of the country. it is also nice to see that the fcc move forward with a way to better serve the american public with ament -- am and fm radio. the first open agenda. i was a vocal critic of the

previous chairman's hyper- partisan leadership style and they recognized it will not be an easy task to rectify some of the agencies biggest missteps from the last few years. i am referring of course verily to the 2015 title to order and the subsequent broadband privacy order. whe ensure there are other actions that may be revisited i think we need to hit reset on both of these items. i'm glad to see that they have already started the process by staying certain parts of the rules that was set to go into effect last week. as i suspect everyone in this room knows i feel strongly that the best way to provide long-term protection is to pass bipartisan legislation. since we do not yet have agreement on that front despite goodwill on both sides, there's no reason for the fcc to hold off on doing what is necessary to rebalance the regulatory posture under current statutes. something tells me much of today's hearing will be dedicated to this topic. e