U.S. Senator To Host Three-Day Online Discussion about Broadband

July 23, 2007

Starting Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) will host three nights of online discussions on what the broadband policy of the U.S. government should be.

The discussions will be held on the self-identified progressive website OpenLeft.org.

"I will begin each night's discussion with a conversation about some of the core principles I think are important, and then I'll ask for you to contribute your ideas that will help me craft legislation," Durbin writes (or had written for him) on an OpenLeft blog posting today.

Here's what Senator Durbin says he would like to find out from online participants:

What should be America's national broadband strategy? There are two reasons I'm asking for your help and participation. The first is because I think we need more public participation and transparency in the way Congress crafts significant legislation. This is an approach to legislation that has never been tried before. If it's successful -- as I believe it will be -- it may become the way lawmakers approach drafting bills on other issues like education, health care, and foreign policy.

The second reason I'm doing this is because broadband policy is one of the most important public policy issues today. Frankly, America does not have a national broadband strategy, and we are falling behind. That means our families don't have access to the best medical technologies, our students don't have access to the best educational opportunities, and our entrepreneurs are limited in the markets they can access.

As we work together to draft a bill to solve these problems, the three principles I want to begin with are: