rosenworcel nomination, as provided under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: madam president, i thank the majority leader for moving forward on the rosenworcel nomination. for those who don't have access to broadband, the macob tribe, 90% of those don't have access to broadband. i know that one county in mississippi, the home of my colleague, that is estimated that the broadband mapping overestimates coverage by a whopping 80%. this is unacceptable. we need accurate mapping and we need the broadband funding to move forward. i know the biden administration understands the importance of affordability of broadband. i know they want to deploy broadband and make it more affordable and we want to work with them. chairwoman rosenworcel looked at the issue of health care and that the internet is access to doctors, medical information, to monitoring patients and keeping the lights on. this is also why i think her nomination is so important. she took time to first-hand visit telehealth in the state of washington in seattle and how we were pushing forward and ye

ms. rosenworcel for another term as >> i will vote for ms. rosenwoccel. although i disagree for her support of overly restrictive regulations and i always agree with her policy positions on other matters. she's well-known to the members of committee and reputation for being responsive and engaged. i want to stress how important it is for our children of the fcc to -- chair of the fcc to provide strong leadership in the timely production of accurate broadband coverage maps. these maps are absolutely critical to ensuring the fair and effective distribution of the broadband funding approved in the bipartisan infrastructure package. let the record reflect there were a chorus of amens all around the diaz -- dais on that statement. i would also vote to report miss vichey and mr. katraman to the important roles at the department of commerce which they have been nominated. will i not vote to report the nomination of mr. bedoya to be a commissioner at the f.t.c. rhine ma concerned by the frequency which he has publicly expressed divisive views on policy matters ra

rosenworcel, mr. bedoya this morning today's hearing, ms. sohn and mr. davidson for getting closer dividing these agency that tools they need to do the job? >> will consider the nomination of jed kolko to be undersecretary of economic affairs at the department of commerce. welcome to you. the undersecretary for economic affairs is responsible for providing economic analysis to submitting national economic indicators, serving the administer as the department premier statistical program and including in that the beer of economic analysis in the census bureau. these bureaus and others in the department provide important critical data to our nation come to our agencies and the private sector institutes, every thing from science, climate, weather, economic indicators trade and telecommunication. mr. kolko has been chief economist at indeed since 2016. before that chief economist and be of analytics at truly a. soy brings private sector expense as well. he's also had numerous research position was work as folk some ways to incorporate proprietary into research

ms. rosenworcel for another term as fcc commissioner. she is experienced and qualified for this position, and having chaired it for the past ten months. although i disagree with her support for overly restrictive regulations and her policy position on other matters, she's well known to the committee and has a reputation for being responsive and engaged. i want to stress again how important it is for our chair of the fcc to provide strong leadership and timely production of broadband coverage maps. these maps are absolutely critical to insuring the fair and effective -- approved in the bipartisan infrastructure package. and let the record reflect there were a or chorus of amens all around the dais on that statement. i will also vote to report the important roles at the department of commerce for which they've been nominated. i will not vote to report the nomination of mr. badoya to be a commissioner at the ftc. i remain concerned about the frequency in which he has publicly expressed divisive views. there has been a troubling trend of pol

ms. sohn said, a huge, ongoing problem. and i would associate myself with the comments of chair rosenworcel at her hearing. the maps have been a problem for years. we've known it. we need to fix it, and we have this problem where one, you know, one person in the census block has service and we count everybody, that could be thousands of people, it could be huge areas particularly in a rural part of america. so ill just say if -- i would just say if confirmed, i'd be committed to working on this. we absolutely need those maps in order to proceed in the right way with the funding that we've been given at ntia, and i appreciate you raising the question. we have to look at the whole picture here. >> i'm going to follow up for the record on more detail there because i think what's problematic about the solution is it's somewhat lopsided as it relates to the resources and what really it's going to take to solve the problem. if you're solving for access in some of our hard-to-serve areas, i'm sure there's enough money. if you are trying to solve for this issue of digital divide, i'm not sure there is. and so i th

ms. rosenworcel has served as a commissioner at the f.c.c. for nearly a decade, the past ten months as acting chair. i believe she will receive great bipartisan support as she becomes the first woman ever confirmed by this chamber to lead the f.c.c. ms. rosenworcel is exactly the right person for the job in 2021. she has set herself apart as one of the nation's leading champions for more affordable and accessible internet. atch the f.c.c. repealed net neutrality during the trump administration, the best thing the senate can do is confirm someone with a proven record of standing on the side of american consumers. ms. rosenworcel will also step in as chair at a time when the f.c.c. is carrying out the important task of expanding broadband to millions of americans who have long been left behind. ms. rosenworcel is keenly aware of the immense damage that the digital divide has caused our country. it has shut out rural, urban, and low-income americans, including far too many women and people of color for whom basic internet access remains unavaila