and children. i remember that julius demonstrated a passion for consumer rights the day he came to congress. one of his signature issues is now called the schumer box, which is what is on all credit card applications. his name was too long, so they put mine in. he did most of the work, and deserves most of the credit. it helped dramatically reduce credit card interest rates once people knew what they were. it used to be buried on the fine print. he is going to carry that dedication to his role as fcc chairman she be confirmed by this committee and by the senate. in addition to working for me, he served on the house select committee on the iran-contra affair. . iran contraaffair. he's clerked for three federal

judges, including justices brennan and sutor. of course, he's had extensive knowledge of the fcc where he worked as special counsel to general counsel william kenard who later became chairman and then to chairman reed hunt. the fcc has been a passion for julius for a very long time. it's so nice to see him nominated for the position he knows so well and cares so much about. his resume in the public sector demonstrates a widespread knowledge of agency experience and it gives him a well-rounded background on all the issues that are before the fcc, and he has a great deal that he could, he's a modest fellow, but he could boast about in his private sector work which demonstrates his understanding of where the his understanding of where the government rubber hits company road and how those two entities must work together to shape the future of telecommunications. he's held numerous positions at iac interactive corp, a fortune

500 media and technology company. he was a special advisor for general atlantic, a global growth equity firm and most recently, he co-founded both launch box digital and rock creek ventures, which helped to advise, launch and accelerate tech companies in their early stages. so julius is creative, knowledgeable and respected, probably as creative, knowledgeable and respected a nominee that the fcc has ever seen. i admire his ability to blend pragmatism with bold thinking. he knows the telecommunications and economy that is fundamentally based on interconnectiveities instrumental to job creation and entrepreneurship in the u.s. the president knows julius has the ability to harness telecommunication technology, to shape our country's initiatives from health care to education to energy and that's why he chose julius to serve as chairman of the technology media and telecommunications policy

working group that created the obama technology and innovation plan. so i couldn't think of a more well prepared nominee, someone who cares more about the agency, someone who has more qualities that will make him live up to the strong and high, appropriately high challenges that you, mr. chairman and ranking member hutchison have laid before him and i'm proud to introduce him to this committee. thank you very much for letting me testify. >> thank you very much, senator schumer. we value you greatly and your presence is most welcome. >> i would like to call now on senator clobuchar. >> mr. chairman, i'm very pleased today to be here for mr. genikowski's nomination. i see his family is here which

is very exciting. i met his young son out by the bathroom, which was also very exciting, and i'm very pleased after meeting with him and just his focus on what he wants to do at the agency. one of my pet peeves is while the agency's website was at one point a really ground-breaking website, i think it's kind of fallen behind and a lot of people complain about access on the website. i was glad that he wanted to look at that. i was telling him outside that the dtv transition is going at least in my state, i won't speak for anyone, better than we thought and that the fcc commissioner mcdowell and i talked about this on friday, and the commerce department have worked together on this and i think a lot of our fears were unfounded. of course, there are problems and glitches that will have to be fixed, and then of course, just as the other senators spoke about, the broadband issue is very important to me. the other thing, did you want to

have me ask questions, mr. chairman, or are we just doing the opening statements? is this what we're doing here? are we doing openings? >> did you have a treatise in mind? >> no, i didn't. i was just so happy to get called on to give an opening statement. i'll just finish up here. >> that's fine. >> okay. the last thing that we spoke about briefly was something that senator warner and i have introduced legislation, and we hope other members of the committee will look at it, called dig once. it's a simple idea that if you're going to be building a federal highway, federal road project, and you want to put in conduit for broadband, we know we want to do this all over the country, that you should be doing it at the same time. literally something like 90% of the cost of broadband installation is that road work. and you can literally save about ten times the cost if you simply do it at the same time. it certainly was popular in my state yesterday when they were dealing with the road

construction dealing with the road construction season in minnesota with all the orange cones and delays and clos close highways. i hope it's something the sec will be taking seriously. we're very excited for your new leadership in the sec and we're excited to be working with you. thank you. >> thank you. senator pryor? >> thank you. i'll just submit an opening statement for the record. mr. chairman, it's good to have you back in the saddle, feeling 100% and running this committee like you should be. >> thank you. >> mr. chairman, let me also echo what nart psenator pryor s. it's good to have you back in the saddle. we very much appreciate your leadership on this committee. >> do i have to ride horses? >> if you come to my state you're going to ride a horse, okay?

we'll saddle you up and you'll do just fine. no doubt about it. i would like to echo also what the ranking member, senator hutchinson said about broadband a and. it is so important, i think, that we get the country connected. and as you, you know, if we look at the various points in our history where we weren't connected, with the railroads in the 1880s, we made a major investment, and we encourage railroads to serve the swier country. and when fdr in the 30s and 40s, we real liz looized we weren't connected with electricity. we brought electricity to rural areas with rural electric co-ops. i really hope that your tenure at the fcc shows the leadership to lead out on broadband. i applaud senator warner for the

bill in thinking through how we put this in. one of the areas i would like you to think about and address in your opening statement is indian country with we have some real problems out there in terms of not only broadband and telephones. i remember when president clinton was trying to demonstrate the digital divide. and i think i told you this in our meeting. he started out in the silicon valley and ended up in ship rock, new mexico. the young lady who introduced him was a star student. she got up and did the introduction and she talked about how she won a computer because of her academic prowess, and then she took it home, but she didn't have a phone line, she didn't have the ability to plug it in. and he used that trip from the silicon valley to ship rock, new

mexico, on the navajo reservation to show the huge digital divide. so i hope that your leadership there will move us down the road and this committee will step up to the plate. it's wonderful to see that tie on your son out there. very impressive young man. he seems to have disappeared. >> he's still preparing. >> thank very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator johan. >> thank you very much. >> i can't be here long today because of other commitments, but i did want to stop by and offer you a few thoughts. first of all, we haven't had an opportunity really to meet or to talk at any length, so i look forward to that opportunity. i have to tell you, looking at

your background, your resume. you've prepared yourself well for what you're about to get yourself into. it's a huge with a huge responsibility. secondly, it occurs to me i don't know who would be qualified. so i really wish you the very, very best and look forward to working with you on a whole range of issues. so many good things have been mentioned and i don't want to repeat them, other than to indica indicate, yes, of course, for me, issued like broadband, broadband in rural areas, sparsely populated areas would, of course, be important. much of nebraska is that wa maybe sometime you can stop by the office. i would love to visit with you about the community advisory boards. i can't say there's huge

controversy out there, but there's some controversy. there is some concern that, you know, if a local broadcaster doesn't know the community who could possibly know the community? but again, i don't want to side track you on the issue. i think something that i can visit with you about and i'm anxious to do that. i would also like to hear some thoughts about economic growth in rural areas. i do think, maybe it's broadband and maybe it's sot other things we can do together to try to introduce, as a former mayor, it's different than creating a joeb in other areas.

i want to put a strong endorsement for someone i hope will be your future colleague and that's commissioner mcdowell who will follow ewe. i just think the two of you have a great opportunity to work together. i find commissioner mcdowell to be bright, extremely fair, open minded. i think you can create a bond and a working relationship that kind of extends across the aisle like many of us do on this committee. i really encourage that in urgent -- looking at your resume, knowing him better than i actually know you at this point. i just think there's a tremendous amount of brain power that put to work can really help our great neigh. final thing, having sat in your seat at one point in my career, i just want to say congratulations. your family and i would say the me thing to commissioner mcdowell. your family can be so proud of this day.

this is really great and i wish you the very, very best, very anxious to work with you in the weeks and months ahead. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator lautenberg. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and welcome. i enjoyed our chance to chat. and when we saw what recently happened, the federal governm t government, we moved from analog to digital. it promises better al qaeda till and it will flree of space for broad dand and public safety needs. i am pleased with how successful the transition was and i look forward to the benefits that it

will brick to those residents of new jersey who had been in previous years out of good quality of transmission. they showed the kind of leadership we expect from the sec. if you are confirmed, and there's little doubt in my mind, we expect them to continue the commitment and the leadership that we've seen. based on the proven track record i believe that you'll be up to the task. we heard from chuck schumer about your past experience. we know that he was very impressed with the kind of work you did. it takes total credit for

whatever the elements you have had. if these nominees are confirmed it, if you are still going to have some very critical tasks that have to get attention. our work on digital transmission is not yet done. we need to plan for public safety broadband network using some air waves that were freed up by the switch. we are still needing to make more of our communications system work with the residents of new jersey. is the only state without its own media market. it is the only commercial high- powered state wwor has failed to meet its obligation to our state. we will talk to you about that. we will make sure that you have the time to ask questions and still meet other obligations.

the sec is drastic -- trapping in other plan -- the fcc is drafting another plan. to help people learn and get better jobs and keep america competitive. i look forward to our contact in the future knowing full well that we have an able skipper at the helm and i congratulate you. >> thank you, senator. senator dorgan. >> thank you. i'm going to support both nominees. mr. mcsdou el, of course, is nominated for a second term, and i'm pleased to support him. and let me associate myself with remarks from the senator of nebraska. you have a perfect background to assume the chairmanship and i would be happy to vote for you. let me say, however, it seems to me you will lead a rather unhealthy agency.

we've been through a period of substantial secrecy. some of the research studies don't match someone's impression of what should have come out of the studies. a lot of serious questions were raised about the stewardship of the sec. i'm pleased we have an opportunity now for a new direction. mr. copps has done a fine job in an acting capacity. but, you know, we need more transparency, more openness in policy development. you're going to have to develop a national broadband plan, which is a big, big issue and has so many important considerations. poll soins spectrum, what spectrum lies fallow, sfwhie how much of it. why is it not used? what can we do about that? the forebearance petitions.

we have a debate on net neutrality. you can remove that burden by taking a very significant step in solving that issue and restoring net neutrality provisions. and then the interest of public interest obligations and substantial concentration of broadcast properties around the country and the fact that many of us think that concentration has been very unhealthy. so that's a very significant, sizable menu of great importance to the entire country. and again, i'm pleased when we have nominees that come before us who are extraordinarily well qualified. i'm pleased to support your nomination and senator mcdowell as well. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's great to have you back as others have mentioned. let me also add one more kudo to julius's background. i actually had an opportunity to get to know him many, many years ago where we used to play basketball at the ymca here in town together.

and then he start playeding with me and he started playing with this other guy who now lives down the street, right? at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. so it is great the last few years for joyce and i to reconnect. he's got a pretty mean jump shot and someone that i know has a deep friendship with the president. i want to echo a coup of comments that senator dorgan made. as somebody who used to know something about telecom, i do think we have a chance -- and i also will be supporting commissioner mcdowell. you have to step away and be able to come back and introduce a fellow virginian. i do think there's a chance to kind of re-establish the stature and prominence of the sec. and it's terribly important agency that has critically important scope of work. and i look forward to working

with you. i want to echo a coup of quick comments. one on broadband, making sure we get it right is very important. trying to make sure we think smartly about how we deploy the fiber. but it's also important that we think clearly that we have accurate mapping. broadband capabilities, that we really think about the last mile concerns. broadband does not good until you bring it to the town hall. i think we really need to be creative about how we put incentives in place and help smaller communities in particularing a gait demand so they can have a sustainable broadband network even if the public sector makes the initial investment. how do we keep that system operating over the long haul. senator dor gan mentioned the issues around spectrum. weren't quite successful on the d-block options on the 700 meg space. but trying to make sure that we have that next generation public

safety spectrum that's fully inoperable. i think it's still an embarrass nmt this country that this many years after 9/11, we don't have that full functionaling safety across tspectrum. making sure as we do this analysis and how we get it out to the public and perhaps at the same time generate revenue. i look forward to working with you and it's great to have you back in the public sectontosect. i i know my fellow virginian will be great at getting the sec back on track. >> nart gabich? >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. i will be very brief. thank you for the time that you came and met with me in your dmimt to consider coming to alaska again and see what we're doing up there.

your credentials are incredible and i'm to the sec. i have some questions i'll probably ask you to put on the record. again, thank you for being here. your family i know needs to support you in this endeavor as you'll be drawn across the country at times to present, discuss and have issues brought to your attention that will require you to leave washington, d.c. at times. so again thank you for your willingness to do this. thank you for the time going over a very alaskan type issues. and i'll probably ask you a few on the record. but again, congratulations and i'll leave it at that. >> senator, kerr sfli. >> thank you very much. it is good to have you back. i was going to slap you on the thigh and welcome you back but i didn't know which leg it was.

>> i look forward to supporting you also. and i particularly want to express my support. we had a chance to chat. but i want to support you publicly. i think you're the right person to lead this commission at a time of great economic uncertainty. and the service you bring as well as your own private sector experiences, just the right recipe for the commission during these difficult times. fcc regulate, as you know, an industry that makes up roughly one fifth of the u.s. economy. and i regret to see the tenure of your predecessor was a bleak peer yoed for all of us at the fcc. i think it was a trail of missed opportunities of acts of commission and omission that

wound up squus not taking advantage of the revolution in the communications world and the need to come up with some fundamental policy, not the least of which is just the broadband penetration of our nation, which slipped from something like fourth to 1st. that is not a positive statement about competitiveness or america's prepared ngs to step up. and you're going to have an enormous influence on industries that we rely upon to serve as dynamic drivers for the future of our economy, and we're going to look to you for that leadership. i'm dprft what you say that you understand that challenge. obviously this comes at a great time of transformation in the way we're communicating. just four days ago, broadband

television stations completed the digital transition, hitting off analog signals, delivering transmissions to households for more than 60 years. that transition a lot more than bring a clear tv picture into those room where is people got their box and got ready for it. it cleared the way for a vast amount of beachfront spectrum to be put to use. senator dorgan and others have commented on that use and what we need to do. but thanks to the digital switch, next generation wireless broadband networks are being built across the country. when confirmed you'll begin to craft the fcc's national broadband plan. and that, i think, is perhaps the most important task given the way we've gone backwards and the level of the challenge. we hope you're going to take a

look at managing and allocating the spectrum both publicly and privately and see that we use it more efficiently. i've introduced legislation to require this commission to work with ntia on a kompl hencive spectrum inventory. and i think that such an effort would play an integral role in any plan for achieving universal broadband service. there's obviously no shortage of challenges watsing for you as you enter the chairman's office. the quarterly contribution rate to the universal services fund is higher than it's ever been, yet the fund does not cover broadband service. and nearly age years after 9/11, shockingly, we still have not made good on the 9/11 commission's recommendation to build an interoperable public safety communications network. so from addressing these challenges and others to maintaining the openness of the internet, which many of us i think you know care about

passionately, as well as maintaining a laboratory for invasion, i think you're going to see some of the biggest challenges we face in this field. but i'm confident that this commission is up to the task of implementing the president's technology agenda, so we look forward to a swift confirmation and we particularly look forward to working closely with you. and we hope that you will commit here in the hearings to a strong, candid and, you know, really cooperative relationship with the committee. >> for those of you who may be trying to figure out how to pronounce his name, we've had researchers at work for three days on that. and it's pronounced chow.

>> well. we changed our name. it's janikowski. >> all those people are going to be laid off. i hope that you would introduce your family. >> thank you to you for your generous -- i should proceed to introduce my family before we lose my kids. i couldn't be happier that my wife is here and all three of my children starting youngest to

oldest, aaron janikowski, lila, my oldest son jake. i'm so pleased that my parents were able to come from new york and my brothers, joey and alan. and i believe that a couple of cousins are here, too. rabbi and alexis brooks. thank you for coming. distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i'm grateful for this chance. i look forward to answering your questions and seeking your support for my nomination. mr. chairman, over the years, i've had a chance to see your commitment to american consumer, your dedication to protecting the safety of our nation's communities. i look forward to working with you on these and other sthiet vooitle issues. senator hutchinson, i have great respect for the leadership you bring to the committee and i