Michael Doyle

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4998), to prohibit certain Federal loans, grants, and subsidies from being used to purchase communications equipment or services posing national security risks, to provide for the establishment of a reimbursement program for the replacement of communications equipment or services posing such risks, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4998.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first off, I want to thank Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member Walden and their staffs for their dedication and working together to come to an agreement on this legislation and bringing it to the House floor today. Today, the House will consider H.R. 4998, the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, introduced by Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member Walden. This bill would prohibit the use of Federal funds and FCC universal service programs for the purchase and use of telecommunications equipment which poses significant risks to national security. It would also authorize the creation of a program to enable telecommunications service providers to remove and replace untrusted telecom equipment. It has become clear that untrusted equipment in U.S. telecommunications networks poses an unacceptable threat to our national security, and I am very happy that we were able to come together to address this serious issue. Small broadband providers in mostly rural parts of our country have turned, understandably, to the cheapest option they could find to provide service. All too often, that has been Chinese equipment provided by Huawei or ZTE. These companies have been propped up and supported by the Chinese Government as a way of expanding Chinese influence and gaining a foothold for the Chinese Government in the networks of foreign nations. We are coming together today to say that the risks posed by this equipment are simply not acceptable to our country or to anyone who uses these networks. Increasingly, all aspects of our economy, civil discourse, and culture run over the internet, and giving a foothold to those who might do us harm is a risk we can no longer afford. What is frustrating is that large telecom providers knew the dangers posed by the equipment from companies like Huawei and ZTE years ago because of warnings inside our government. But smaller providers didn't get the same heads-up by our government, and when confronted with rumors about untrusted equipment and the certainty of their bottom lines, they went with their bottom line. My hope is that this legislation can help these folks address the threat posed by this untrusted equipment in an expeditious fashion. This bill should signal to our allies and partners around the world that network security must be a priority as we enter a new generation of communication capabilities. I am proud of the bipartisan work of my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee to advance this legislation to the floor today. I especially want to acknowledge the important contributions Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui made to put this bill together and move it through the legislative process. I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I cannot reiterate enough how important it is that we pass this legislation and address this critical weakness in our Nation's telecommunications infrastructure. This legislation came about through the hard work of the majority staff and the minority staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee. In particular, I would like to thank Gerry Leverich, Phil Murphy, Dan Miller, AJ Brown, Parul Desai, and Alex Hoehn-Saric of the majority staff, and Kate O'Connor, Evan Viau, and Rachel Rathore on the minority staff for their hard work and diligence to get this bill to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4229) to require the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules relating to the collection of data with respect to the availability of broadband services, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 4229.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first off, I want to thank Ranking Member Walden and his staff for their willingness and dedication in working with us to come to an agreement on this legislation and work with us to move it through the House. H.R. 4229, the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability, or DATA, Act, introduced by Mr. Loebsack and subcommittee Ranking Member Latta, would require the Federal Communications Commission to take steps to address the many problems with our current broadband maps. We have talked about incomplete and inaccurate broadband maps for as long as I have been on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I am glad that my colleagues were able to come together and finally address this important issue. Accurate maps of who does and doesn't have access to broadband are a critical first step in closing the digital divide. We can't hope to solve this problem if we don't know the scope of it and where to put our resources. This bill would dramatically improve the FCC broadband maps by requiring the FCC to collect and disseminate far more granular broadband data for both fixed and mobile services. The bill would also allow the FCC to use crowdsourced data to help verify and supplement carrier-provided data. This bill also integrates concepts and principles from H.R. 4128, the Map Improvement Act of 2019, introduced by Representatives Lujan, Bilirakis, and myself; H.R. 2643, the Broadband Mapping After Public Scrutiny Act of 2019, introduced by Ranking Member Latta and my good friend, Congressman Welch, who has been a leader on addressing the broadband mapping issue; and H.R. 3162, the Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2019, introduced by Representatives McMorris Rodgers and O'Halleran. H.R. 4229 is a commonsense bill with bipartisan support to fix a longstanding problem in our Nation's broadband maps. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Loebsack), who is the Democratic prime sponsor and author of this bill.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel said at our last oversight hearing, we need accurate maps before we spend money, and we need better data if we want good deployments. More than that, I would add, the FCC needs to fix the maps that they have before they go out spending billions of dollars on broadband deployment in rural communities. Some of the funding choices the Commission has discussed making could impact these communities for the next 10 years. The Commission has also acted on a range of regulatory actions related to deployment and competition using bad maps. To be honest, I think the FCC needs to fix its maps before it makes either funding or regulatory decisions. To be honest, it seems like the FCC is a fact-free zone when it comes to the disconnect between how bad their maps are and the kinds of actions they are taking. I want to thank the good work done by my colleague Dave Loebsack. The broadband mapping issue has been a passion of his for a long time, and I am glad that we are acting to address it before Dave retires. I know that he and his staffer Scott Stockwell, who is celebrating his birthday--and I wish Scott a happy birthday--have worked hard to get this legislation to the floor today. It is a critical first step in getting our Nation on the right track to closing the digital divide. I also thank our committee staffers Jerry Leverich, Dan Miller, AJ Brown, Parul Desai, Phil Murphy, and Alex Hoehn-Saric on the majority staff, and Kate O'Connor, Evan Viau, Mike Engel, and Rachel Rathore on the minority staff for their hard work and diligence to get this bill to floor. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and address a critical shortfall in our Nation's broadband deployment policy. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4227) to prohibit the submission to the Federal Communications Commission of broadband internet access service coverage information or data for the purposes of compiling an inaccurate broadband coverage map.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4227.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today, the House will consider H.R. 4227, the Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services Act, or MAPS Act, introduced by Mr. McEachin and Mr. Long. This legislation would specify that it is unlawful to willingly, knowingly, and recklessly submit mapping data that is incorrect. This is an issue that the FCC has been wrestling with for years. Earlier this year, the FCC claimed that, based on data they had collected, the number of Americans who lacked access to broadband had dropped 25 percent since 2017. However, this statistic was based on a colossal error by one provider that skewed results for the whole Nation. The provider claimed that they served 62 million people, or 20 percent, of the Nation with fiber. This would have made this single provider the fourth largest provider in the country when, in fact, they were the 81st largest. Our mapping problems don't end there. The FCC delayed their Mobility Fund 2 proceeding last year because the data submitted by wireless carriers was so inaccurate that it was unclear what basis the FCC would use to award over $4 billion in broadband deployment funds. This fund was intended to pay for the deployment of 4G wireless broadband services to rural and unserved communities. The FCC halted that proceeding for over a year and just last week announced that they would be moving forward on a revamped proceeding sometime next year. The major sticking point is that they will need to go out and redo all the inaccurate maps, which are based on fraudulent and overstated data, that they currently have. To add insult to injury, the FCC isn't even taking action against the carriers that submitted the faulty or fraudulent data in the first place. This legislation addresses many of these issues by making it unlawful to willingly, knowingly, or recklessly submit inaccurate data about the availability or quality of service of broadband. Our government can't make good broadband policy if we don't know where we do and where we don't have broadband, and we will never know where we have it if there are no penalties for submitting false or inaccurate data. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the good work done by my colleague, Mr. McEachin. This issue has been one that he has been passionate about, and I am glad we are acting to address it today. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, millions of Americans are suffering from skyrocketing prescription drug prices. They have to choose between medicine and food, or rent, or utility bills. People are actually dying because they have been forced to skip or reduce doses. Prices aren't soaring because of the cost of developing prescription drugs. Some of these drugs are decades old. No. Prices are soaring because drugmakers are jacking up prices wherever and whenever they can to maximize their profits. And they can do this because the United States is the only country in the world that subsidizes research on new drugs and then refuses to negotiate with drugmakers for lower prices. This is insane. Americans shouldn't be dying because drug companies want bigger profits. I am supporting H.R. 3 because it will allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, cap annual price increases, and set out-of-pocket maximums for seniors. It is way past time Congress allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 3 to lower drug costs now.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5035) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expiring provisions relating to the retransmission of signals of television broadcast stations, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5035.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the Television Viewer Protection Act will help ensure that millions of Americans, including nearly 1 million satellite television customers, will not lose access to broadcast television content. It is important we get this legislation passed and to the President's desk before the end of the year. I urge our colleagues in the Senate to take this bill up and move it through their Chamber as quickly as possible. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I urge all our colleagues to support this very important bill. I thank my friend for his cooperation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today, the House will vote on the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act. This legislation resulted from diligent bicameral negotiations over many months, and I am glad that we have come to this agreement. This bill addresses a problem that we all have firsthand experience with: persistent, annoying, nonstop robocalls. Americans received nearly 48 billion robocalls last year, a 60 percent increase from the year before. That number is expected to increase to 60 billion this year. My hometown of Pittsburgh has already received 387 million robocalls this year. That is up from 189 million in 2017. On average, everyone in America received 15 robocalls in the month of November alone. This legislation before the House is bipartisan and bicameral, and I believe it will help seriously reduce the onslaught of illegal robocalls Americans face. The bill before the House today is the result of bipartisan negotiations, which included industry and public interest stakeholders. The original House bill was reported unanimously out of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which I chair, as well as out of our full Committee on Energy and Commerce. It was approved by the full House with overwhelming support. I am also pleased that the language from the STOP Robocalls Act, which Ranking Member Latta and I introduced, was included in this bill. These provisions allow phone carriers to enable robocall blocking services by default on phone lines automatically. While these technologies have been available on an opt-in basis, too many seniors and, frankly, too many people in general just don't know about these services or how to sign up for them. Allowing these services to be enabled by default allows all consumers to benefit from these technologies without having to go through an onerous signup process, especially seniors and those most vulnerable to scam calls. These provisions also include requirements that new opt-out robocall blocking services do not result in new consumer fees. Finally, this bill requires all carriers to adopt call authentication technology that would enable people to be certain that the number they see on their caller ID is really the number that it is coming from. All too often, folks get calls that look like they are coming from down the street when they are really coming from scammers half a world away. The legislation came about through the hard work of the majority staff and the minority staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. In particular, I thank Jerry Leverich, Phil Murphy, Dan Miller, AJ Brown, Parul Desai, and Alex Hoehn-Saric on the majority staff, and Kate O'Connor, Evan Viau, and Rachel Rathore on the minority staff for their hard work and diligence to get this bill to the floor. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. This is another example of the House passing bipartisan legislation, sending over 200 such bills this session to the Senate. Hopefully, our colleagues in the Senate will act on this bill and give the relief that our constituents deserve from these unwanted robocalls.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, we didn't want to let the August recess go by without giving our annual report on the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. I know you have been waiting for this moment, Mr. Speaker. Once again, over 20,000 people came to Nationals Park to watch an exciting game of baseball between the Democrats and the Republicans. It was a rowdy crowd at Nationals Park. It was an exciting, action-packed game. I am happy to report to the House of Representatives that, once again, the Democrats won the game 14-7. I want to commend the Republican team. They played a very competitive game. They have got some new players. They are playing with a lot more resolve, and we look forward to competitive matches with them in the future. Our MVP this year was Cedric Richmond, who pitched a complete game, and we had a record number of freshman Members playing on the team this year. In addition, we had two outstanding women on the team, Linda Sanchez and Nanette Barragan, who added much to the team. So, in the end, Mr. Speaker, the real winners of this game are the charities. The game this year raised a little shy of $1.3 million for the charities. So it was a good cause and good camaraderie. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, that those of us on the Democratic team genuinely like our colleagues on the Republican baseball team. We get along great together. We have a lot of fun. We practice hard, and we play our hearts out to give the crowd a good game and raise money for the charity. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams), the Republican manager.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, today the House will vote on the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, legislation introduced by Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member Walden, Ranking Member Latta, and me. This bill addresses a problem that we all have firsthand experience with: persistent, annoying, nonstop robocalls. Americans received nearly 48 billion robocalls last year, a 60 percent increase from the year before. That number is expected to increase to 60 billion this year. In June alone, in my hometown of Pittsburgh, we received an estimated 34 million robocalls. On average, everyone in this country receives 14 of these calls every day. This bill is a comprehensive, bipartisan solution that I believe will help seriously reduce the onslaught of illegal robocalls that Americans face. The bill before the House today is the result of bipartisan negotiations, which included industry and public interest stakeholders. This bill was reported unanimously out of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which I chair, as well as the full Energy and Commerce Committee. I am also pleased that the language from the STOP Robocalls Act, which Ranking Member Latta and I introduced, was included in this bill. These provisions allow phone carriers to automatically enable robocall blocking services by default on phone lines. While these technologies have been available on an opt-in basis, too many of our seniors and, frankly, too many people in general just don't know about these services and how to sign up for them. Allowing these services to be enabled by default allows all consumers to benefit from these technologies without having to go through the onerous signup process, particularly for seniors and those most vulnerable to scam calls. These provisions also include requirements that the new opt-out robocall blocking services do not result in new consumer fees. The bill also requires all carriers to adopt call authentication technology, which would enable people to be certain that the call they receive----

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. The call authentication technology would enable people to be certain that the number they see on their caller ID is really the number the call is coming from. All too often, people get calls that look like they are coming from down the street, but they are really coming from scammers half a world away. This legislation came about through the hard work of majority staff and minority staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I would like to thank both staffs on the majority and minority for their hard work and diligence to get this bill to the floor. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Autism CARES Act of 2019. My good friend and colleague, Chris Smith, and I formed the Autism Caucus in 2001 to raise awareness in Congress about autism spectrum disorder, ASD for short, to advocate for greater Federal involvement in understanding ASD, and to help individuals and families get the support they need. Nearly 20 years later, we have made significant progress, but we are still far behind where we would like to be and where individuals and families need us to be. In 2000, the CDC reported approximately 1 in 150 children with ASD. The latest report found that number had increased to 1 in 59 children. Similarly, even though ASD can be diagnosed as early as 2 years old, most children are not diagnosed with ASD until after age 4. Children and adolescents with ASD have had average medical expenditures that were $4,000 to $6,000 higher than children without ASD. We also don't have a reliable estimate of autism's prevalence among adults. As autism is a lifelong condition, an estimated 50,000 teens and young adults with autism age out of school-based services each year. That is why it is so important that we pass this bill: to continue to close the gaps in knowledge and services surrounding ASD. The Autism CARES Act of 2019 increases authorized program levels to match our recent success in the Appropriations Committee: $296 million annually at NIH, $23 million at CDC, and $55 million at HRSA. This money will be used for research, surveillance, education, detection, and intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders of all ages, not just children. The bill also supports training the healthcare workforce to better understand and treat individuals with autism, and it prioritizes awards to medically underserved areas. It also directs HHS to submit a report to Congress on the health and well-being of individuals on the autism spectrum, an often-overlooked aspect of ASD. The bill also adds important voices to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, including representatives from the Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the VA. Finally, it increases the minimum number of self-advocates included in the public membership of the committee, an important step for a community whose voices are invaluable. I am proud of the progress that we have made over the last 20 years, but I know we have to do more. Autism CARES Act of 2019 takes important steps toward our ultimate goal to ensure that every individual has access to the treatment and support that is a right for them. I thank Congressman Smith, Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member Walden, Chairwoman Eshoo, and Ranking Member Burgess, as well as Autism Speaks, Autism Society of America, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and other stakeholders for their input and support for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, reauthorization of the Autism CARES Act means a great deal to millions of Americans affected by autism spectrum disorder. I urge my colleagues to give this bill their wholehearted support and vote in favor of this legislation.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of my constituents, Mr. Henry Parham, who is believed to be the last surviving African American combat veteran from D-day. Mr. Parham served in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only African American combat unit to land in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Men from the 320th were in the first waves to land on Omaha Beach that day. They had the vital task of preventing enemy aircraft from attacking the beaches where men in equipment were pouring ashore. Their balloons prevented enemy planes from making effective attacks, but the balloons also made excellent targets for enemy fire. Back then, the Army, like most of American society, was segregated. Nevertheless, these African Americans risked their lives to serve their country, even as Blacks faced Jim Crow laws and racist violence back home. Needless to say, the German bombs and bullets didn't discriminate. Two thousand Americans died on Omaha Beach that day, including men from the 320th. Many more were wounded. I want to recognize Henry Parham from the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion for his heroic service to our country. I am very proud to represent Mr. Parham in Congress.