Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCLELLAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1343, the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act.

It should come as no surprise that many of the communities lacking internet access are rural, remote, and in sparsely populated areas. Bringing this critical infrastructure to them will, in many cases, require crossing large geographic areas. This is especially true in many of our Western States, where significant amounts of territory are owned and managed by the Federal Government.

In recent years, the Energy and Commerce Committee has heard testimony about inefficiencies in Federal permitting. Specifically, witnesses acknowledge difficulty accessing information about the status and progress of applications to deploy communications infrastructure on publicly owned and managed lands.

To help address these issues, H.R. 1343 requires NTIA, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to develop and implement a plan to assist communication providers in navigating the burdens of deploying communications infrastructure on public lands.

Ultimately, this bill should lead to more robust collaboration between those responsible for reviewing permit applications for Federal lands and the communication providers that are trying to bring high- speed internet to all of our constituents.

I thank Representatives Soto and Pfluger for their leadership on this issue. This bipartisan legislation is a product of regular order, and I am pleased to see it taken up by the full House today.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, H.R. 1343, the Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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