Senate Proceeding on Mar 10th, 2011 :: 3:08:20 to 3:17:35
Total video length: 7 hours 35 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:148 Duration: 0:09:15 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

3:08:16 to 3:08:39( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: responsibility and greater prosperity for future generations. mr. pr floor. the presiding officer: the senator from west mr. rockefeller: mr. president, tomorrow is march 11. for most of us this date carries no particular significance.

3:08:20 to 3:17:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Rockefeller

3:08:40 to 3:09:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: it does, however, reflect exactly six months before september 11. that date we do remember and will not forget. it is six months from the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever and a day that we as a nation can never

3:09:01 to 3:09:22( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: forget. it is six months from a date we will honor the memory of those whose lives came to and he and the way we came together at least for a short period of time as a nation. with that historic date approaching, i think that it is that we honor the tremendous

3:09:23 to 3:09:43( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: bravery of all public safety officials. i think this is one of the most important issues facing the congress, and it's one that we can do something about very quickly and reduce the budget deficit by doing so. our police, our firefighters, our emergency medical technicians, and the countless

3:09:44 to 3:10:04( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: others who fought that day to keep us safe and who work every day to protect us from harm -- we have essentially forgotten about them. the national commission specifically said that you have

3:10:05 to 3:10:27( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: to -- the 9/11 commission, they said you have to have a system which connected all law enforcement across this nation in an interoperable wireless system. now, obviously, therefore, that's a way of saying the best and simplest way to honor them is to make sure we're giving

3:10:28 to 3:10:49( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: them the tools they need to be successful, to be safe, and to do their job in a way that does not expose them to needless dangers. right now we're not doing that. much as in the first gulf war when the army and the navy and the marines and the air force couldn't communicate with each other because they were all on

3:10:50 to 3:11:12( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: different systems of communications and we all kind of laughed at that as being kind of pa well, they've sort of solved that -- well, we haven't solved this one.

3:11:13 to 3:11:34( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: so when it comes to public safety communications, these everyday heroes do not have the networks that they so could easily have and that they so desperately need. because we have not acted. we have not acted. 10-year anniversary coming up. six months from now. we have not acted.

3:11:35 to 3:11:55( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: too often first responders lack that interoperable network that are essential to providing an effective response in emergencies. all kinds of emergencies, a lot of them very desperate, not all of them catastrophic, but always that potential. they don't have the anlt to communicate whereby they don't have the ability to communicate with one another.

3:11:56 to 3:12:17( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: they don't have the ability to communicate with other agencies. they don't have the ability to communicate request other cities and other -- with other cities and other cities and states across state lines. they can't do that. i mean be, it is kind of pathetic, the aifnlgt internet. we have chosen to do nothing, instructed by the 9/11 commission to do something a

3:12:18 to 3:12:39( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: long, long time ago. we have done nothing. so this ham percent our ability to response -- so this hampers our ability to respond to crisis, this lack of quivment whether that crisis is a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, it puts lives in unnecessary peril. i believe it is time to do something about it. in the commerce committee we

3:12:40 to 3:13:01( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: happen to take that approach. that's why i introduced s. 28, the public safety spectrum and wireless innovation act. this legislation, mr. president, does only two things: first, it sets aside the ten megahearts of spectrum known as the "d" block. i don't know why it is called the d-block. but it is called the d-block.

3:13:02 to 3:13:25( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: it is 10 megahrter hertzes. that means they can do the whole thing, completely connect with each other, every sheriff, every state police person, federal, state, county, municipal, all be on one system to talk to each other from a common communications base and a common

3:13:26 to 3:13:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: database. you know, it is an interoperable wireless broadband network that we have to do v. but we don't have it because we haven't made the effort. now, the second thing it does it gives the federal communication commission the authority to do something very interesting:

3:13:47 to 3:14:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: toirks hold incentive auctions based on the voluntary return of spectrum which is not necessarily being used by a whole variety of people who just want to hold on to it. better to hold on to something than give it. but we give them incentive on a voluntary basis -- a crucial word in this legislation -- "on

3:14:10 to 3:14:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: a voluntary basis" to return that spectrum. these auctions in turn will provide the funding to support the construction and maintenance of public safety's network, which they need and which i have been speaking b and they will free up additional spectrum for innovative commercial uses. in short, this bill mayors real

3:14:31 to 3:14:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: estate sources for the first responders with good commercial spectrum policy that can keep us safe and help our economy grow. so that's why the legislation halls the support of absolutely every major public safety organization across th country, obviously included those in my state.

3:14:52 to 3:15:12( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: dwhras this bill also has strong support from all governors, all mayors across this country. they have to deal with this. we don't, they do. and that is why we have now the support of the administration. so i urge my colleagues to

3:15:13 to 3:15:34( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: support the public safety spectrum and wireless innovation act. to those who say we can't afford to do this now, obviously i would say we can't afford not to. the role of intelligence reveals all kinds of things going on not only outside the country but inside the country, implying that there is a target or many

3:15:35 to 3:15:56( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: of them within this country. but if this is not compelling enough, i think it's important for people to know this. this legislation pays for itself , plus it doesn't cost a dime. according to the white house and even the industry itself, the telecommunications industry,

3:15:57 to 3:16:17( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: incentive auctions will bring in revenue so much above what funding public safety requires, it will leave billions over that amount for example deficit reduction. i'm talking a whole lot of deficit reduction, billions and billions.

3:16:18 to 3:16:38( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: so it's a win-win-win. i close, let me just say we have a once in a generation opportunity to provide our public safety officials with the spectrum that they need to communicate when tragedy strikes. we have chosen not to do that. and now there is this sort of malicious and delicious pressure

3:16:39 to 3:16:59( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: of the 9/11 commission's directive to us to do our duty as a country to the people who keep us safe, and more than that, we really do need to keep this country safe, and it's not always going to be safe, and we just don't know when the next

3:17:00 to 3:17:20( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: attack will come. so that we have the incentive auctions which are voluntary, but they will work. they can be sold for lots of money, and we will have therefore lots of money over and above what it costs to build this interoperable wireless broadband system across the entire country, connecting every law enforcement official to

3:17:21 to 3:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

John Rockefeller: every other one. to my colleagues, i say let's seize this moment. this is not republican, this is not democrat. it's simply the right thing to do. and i ask people to think back