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December 2, 2004
Dear Majority
Leader Frist and Minority Leader Daschle: As
a broad coalition representing a diverse group of entities, we are writing to
express our strong collective support for H.R. 5419, a bill that includes the
"ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004," the "Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act," and the
"Universal Service Antideficiency Temporary Suspension Act." The House passed
H.R. 5419 on November 20, 2004 by unanimous consent. When Congress reconvenes
next week, we urge the Senate to take up and pass H.R. 5419 and clear this time-sensitive
legislation for enactment in 2004. H.R.
5419 responds to three key and immediate challenges - -
Enhancing and improving America's "E 9-1-1" emergency calling system;
-
Protecting critical Department of Defense and other government communications
capabilities while delivering additional spectrum for commercial uses; and
-
Preventing dramatic increases in Universal Service charges to consumers, and providing
critical access to the Internet for our nation's schools.
Each
of the three bills that comprise H.R. 5419 stands on its own individual merit;
however, with so little time remaining on the 108th Congressional calendar, it
is imperative that the "ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004," the "Commercial Spectrum Enhancement
Act," and the "Universal Service Antideficiency Temporary Suspension Act" be considered
collectively as encompassed in H.R. 5419.
H.R. 5419 is an extremely meritorious piece of legislation that benefits consumers,
public safety, educators, rural health care providers, and telecommunications
providers. We thank you for your consideration of our request and the Senate's
prompt passage of H.R. 5419. Sincerely,
Alaska Telephone
Association
ALLTEL
American Association of People with Disabilities
American
Library Association
American Telemedicine Association
Cingular Wireless
Colorado Association of Libraries
Colorado State Library
Communications
Workers of America
Consortium for School Networking
Council of Chief State
School Officers
Council of the Great City Schools
Cox Communications
CTIA
- The Wireless Association T
General Communication, Inc.
Independent Telephone
and Telecommunication Alliance
MAAC Project
Motorola
National Association
of Development Organizations
National Association of Independent Schools
National
Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates
National Education Association
National Education Knowledge Industry Association
National Emergency Number
Association National Grange National Indian Telecommunications Institute National
League of Cities
National Rural Health Association
National School Boards
Association
National Telecommunication Cooperative Association
One Economy
Corporation
Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications
Companies
Public Utility Law Project of New York, Inc.
QUALCOMM, Inc.
SBC
Siemens Communications, Inc.
Sprint
State E-rate Coordinators'
Alliance
Telecommunications for the Deaf
The Council of Chief State School
Officers
The Latino Education Project, Inc.
Thornburg Center
T-Mobile,
USA
United States Telecom Association
Western Telecommunications Alliance
Western Wireless |
