a letter from chairman doyle and ranking member latta, letter from the u.s. chamber of commerce, chairman doyle and latta in support of the new broad band programs under the infrastructure investment and jobs act, a letter from connect americans now, c.a.n., to administrator davidson, letter from next link to chairman pallone, ranking member rodgers, comer, granger and fox, to the u.s. department of education, secretary cardona, letter to the federal communication chair, a letter from ranking member rodgers, gomer and granger to national telecommunications and information agency acting secretary, a letter from ranking member rodgers, granger to secretary yellen. letter rodgers, gomer, granger to compartment secretary yellen. letter to u.s. agriculture secretary and u.s. secretary agriculture for rural development. without objection, so order. the chair now recognizes the gentlemen from south carolina, mr. duncan for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, thank you, and i concur with others. you will be missed on the committee. i represent a rural area as many of the

chairman doyle ranking member latta thank you for the opportunity to be with you. i am scott bergmann and i want thank to thank you for your focus on creating smart spectrum policy 5g in our country's future. in particular i commend the committee for its long-standing practice of identifying specific dams for auction could for example the 2020 5g and the act of 2018. 5g wireless broadband works in transforming the way we live and work. 5g is helping to protect our climate. according to a recent study 5g will enable the 20% contribution towards the nations targets helping the country to meet her climate change goals. and 6g with the expanded capability in bridging the digital device in bringing bringing competitive choices to the home broadband market. of course every benefit we are experiencing with 5g in the u.s. and the digital inclusion job creation and improvement of public safety health care in our environment predicated on the availability of spectrum. the demand for fixed and mobile 5g service is increasing exponentially to free up additional spectrum especi

latta for holding this hearing. when you look over the years, congress and especially this subcommittee and energy commerce committee led the way bring forth bipartisan action to assert u.s. global leadership and wireless innovation. a time where we do come together to get things done and it starts here in this room. under the leadership with president trump, auctioning off several fans for commercial use leading to great consumer benefits and strides in innovation additionally, these options have generated billions of private sector investment. with the most recent auction generating a record of more than 80 billing dollars in revenue. that 80.9 billion generated far exceeded the congressional budget office estimates of 2,235,000,000,000 so they thought i5 would generate 20 to 35 billion with the private sector stepping up putting forth their own capitol over 80 billing was generated, we want to see that continue such critical our nation spectrum management process work efficiently. congresst reauthorizes spectrum

latta for five minutes for his opening statement. >> i think the chairman and my good friend who are conducting today very appreciate it. good afternoon and welcome to the first oversight hearing held by the communications and technology subcommittee this congress. i'd also like to start off again, assistant secretary davidson, congratulating you on your confirmation to lead the national telecommunication information administration. it's a very, very important post. the covid-19 pandemic magnified the importance of internet access as so much of our daily lives moved online from telehealth to education. nearly every aspect of american life was forced online overnight. and unlike our international counterparts our providers were well positioned to step up and make sure their networks were successful in handling this spike in traffic. fortunately, the administration's fcc made great progress with connecting americans across the country. americans without access to broadband service fell by percentage points in 2018 and americans living in rural areas with 250 mega bits per second increa

latta said broadband is bipartisan in the spectrum out with opportunities to address the inequities in the digital divide. what i wanted to ask you mr. davidson and breathe the essay the second question how the ntia plans to work with tribal governments to create broadband additional equity plans and how the agency can ensure they are serving all communities? >> a very good question. luke brian data is not a luxury to necessity for all the communities you just mentioned. a r key part of what we are goig to be building here that we have started building is a outreach mechanism where we are engaging with these communities whether it's the state's local communities tribal and minority communities and we are hiring a team of program officers here. there's a person here are each state so the state of new jersey will know who to call and they willhe have the name of the pern here they can reach out to and there will be a person here who wakes up every morning to be here. we are ramping up to do the outreach. socratic -- critical component of our system. >> i f would agree with that he doesin

latta for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. bergmann you point at your general authority to grant more licenses for the suspect from on september 30 this year however the fcc were gained authority to lower to a three gigahertz band in the jobs act. what's spectrum bands are in the pipeline how should we continue to make spectrum available for commercial use? >> thank you ranking member for that question. you hit onto the most important things for us which is authority and having a spectrum pipeline. her 30 years it's never been tried before so this is new ground and wing congress does that they are really important tenets. the lower gigahertz band is critical for congress can work to get access to that band. there are other bands that are important as well. seven gigahertz band is something that ntia looked and we this committee to look at that in four gigahertz as the band is internationally. the focus really is high band right now. >> ms. brown as you may know i'm cochair of the wi-fi caucus. recently the ftc made a commitmen

ukrainian president zelenskyy says it is time for russian president latta mayor putin to meet him and talk. an offer putin seems unlikely to take up, preferring to address 200,000 adoring supporters in a moscow stadium under a banner declaring of ukraine. and having a chillingly echoed stalin this week in calling for the cleansing of russian society. trace: jonathan, we hear a lot about the russian forces moving in the russian forces being stalled what is the status of russian forces now? in the air there still carry on onslaught on the ground they aren't largely stalled there's pictures of russian forces literally digging into defensive positions rather than offense of one sprayed seemingly preparing for the long haul a strategy of attrition as the uk of defense is called it. but look at this map. if they can take and move forward from southern cities, they could effectively cut off the entire eastern half of the country and a line down from kyiv to the black sea and across to the russian border that would be tough territory against inevitable and insurgent campaign. it would also be

joyce. >> thank you chairman and ranking member latta for allowing me to be on the telecommunication and subcommittee hearing and thank you administrator davidson for testifying. connectivity continues to be a serious issue in my district and the common wealth of pennsylvania as a whole. nearly 800,000 pennsylvanians go without fast, reliable broad band including half a million of them, more than 500,000 of them in rural communities throughout pennsylvania. now, more than ever, we must work together to bridge that digital divide. this is why it's so important to steer funding to areas that are in most need of that bridging that digital divide. mr. davidson, we've heard a lot of concerns from our side of the aisle about using these federal funds to overbuild broadband in areas of the united states that already have access, but the only way to avoid this waste of taxpayer funds is by using accurate broadband maps. the law is clear that ntia may not distribute the vast majority of broadband money until the fcc's new broadband maps are available. our concern that states might try to side

with that, we recognize congressman latta for five minutes. >> thank you very much.nks for our witnesses for being with us today. first, i want to thank the ranking member of the subcommittee and also the ranking member of our full committee for bringing up the autonomous vehicles. just real briefly, again, this is legislation i sponsored back in 115th congress. we had over 300 meetings in this committee alone with our staff. we talked to people across the spectrum. we brought out a very good bill. we worked across the aisle and we got unanimous support as it left this committee. not only unanimous support when it left this committee but also voice voted on the floor. as we've seen since that time about bringing back this legislation since it went over to the senate and unfortunately, we couldn't get it done there, that foreign entities across the world are out there being able to get ahead of this in this and we want to make sure the united states is the one bringing this forth as technology. it was also brought up about what's happening on our highways. the latest

latta said that broadband investments, both in the bipartisan infrastructure law and the 2021 consolidated appropriations act, offer an historic opportunity to address the inequities of the digital divide. what i wanted to ask you is, mr. davidson, can you tell us briefly, because i have a second question too, about how the ntia plans to work with state, local, and travel governments to ensure that the agency is serving all communities? >> perfect question. as you said, i really liked it that broadband is not a luxury, it's a necessity, that goes for all the communities you just mentioned. a key part of what we are going to be building here at ntia, we've started building, is a real muscular outreach mechanism where we are engaging with these communities, whether it's the states, local communities, tribal and minority communities. we're hiring a team of program officers here. there is going to be a person here for each state. so the state of new jersey will know who to call. they'll have the name of a person here that they can reach out to. there will be a person here who wakes up every mo