Hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation- Executive Session - Small Business Broadband Deployment Act and Other Items, Opening Statement

Hearing

"Good morning. Thanks to everyone for being here today. I first wanted to let folks know that this will be the first of two Committee markups we will be having this month.

"While the full agenda for the next markup is not set, we do plan to consider the soon-to-be-introduced American Innovation and Competitiveness Act that Senators Gardner and Peters have been working on, as well as Senator Roberts' Kelsey Smith Act, which is cosponsored by Senators Moran, Blunt, Ayotte, and Fischer.

"If Members have items that they would like to be considered by the Committee before we break for our August state work period, please let me, Senator Nelson, or our staff know as soon as possible.

"Today, we will be considering a handful of measures and nominations. The first item on the agenda, Senator Daines' Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, which takes one component of the difficult and sometimes toxic debate over Internet regulations, and tries to strike an honest and reasonable compromise that both protects Internet end users and relieves regulatory burdens that disproportionately affect small Internet providers.

"The language of the bipartisan Daines-Manchin substitute, which we expect to be accepted by voice vote today, passed the House of Represenatives by a unanimous 411 to zero vote on March 16.

"The compromise still ensures meaningful transparency for consumers, as the disclosure requirements from the 2010 regulations remain in place.

"The Seniors Fraud Prevention Act of 2015, introduced by Senators Klobuchar, Ayotte, Collins, Schatz, McCaskill, and others, addresses the issue of senior fraud.

"Seniors, those Americans aged 65 and older, number over 43 million and are the fastest growing segment of the population.

"This bill would create an advisory office within the Federal Trade Commision's Bureau of Consumer Protection to advise the Commission on the prevention of fraud targeting seniors by monitoring the market for specific fraud schemes aimed at seniors, and coordinating with other agencies to provide consumer education materials to seniors and their caregivers.

"The final legislative item on the agenda, the Coast Coordination Act of 2016, sponorsed by Senators Nelson and Wicker, reauthorizes the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and ensures regional coordination in the Gulf of Mexico in order to reduce duplication of efforts and maximize efficiencies.

"We have two Coast Guard flag officer promotions on the agenda, Admiral Lytle to be Vice Admiral and Chief Information Officer on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, and Admiral Fred Midgette to be Vice Admiral and Commander of Pacific Area.

"Because Admiral Lytle will be taking up a position on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, his nomination has been sequentially referred to the Armed Services Committee, and the Armed Services Committee will have 45 days to act on the nomination once it is reported out of the Commerce Committee.

"We also have two civilian nominations on today's agenda. Rebecca Dye has been a member of the Federal Maritime Commission since 2002, and President Obama has reappointed her to another term. I appreciate Ms. Dye's many years of service on the Commission, and look forward to working with her as she continues her service.

"The agenda also includes the nomination of Blair Anderson to be Under Secretary for Policy at the Department of Transportation. Mr. Anderson is currently serving as the Deputy Administrator at the National Highway Safety Administration. Prior to that, he served as the Acting Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Transportation. Mr. Anderson has a wide range of experience at DOT, and I think he is well qualified to take up this important policy post at DOT.

"With that, I will turn to Senator Nelson for any opening remarks he would like to make."

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