Mr. Chairman, are you ready to begin . Please begin your five second countdown. Chair pappas five, four, three, two, one. Good afternoon. I call this hearing to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We have a number of members participating remotely today. And before we proceed, i would like to go over some items for our members participating remotely. First, if youre experiencing connectivity issues, please make sure you or your staff contact our Technical Support so those issues can be resolved immediately. Members participating remotely must continue to use the video function for the duration of their participation in the hearing, unless they experience connectivity issues or other technical problems that render the member fully unable to participate on camera. It is committee and subcommittee policy that members participating remotely will remain muted when not recognized, just like turning on your microphone on and off during an inperso
I want to thank everyone for their adherence to the guidelines as we continue to do our work while protecting the health and safety of our staff, families and communities. Thank you for joining us today. In pursuant to notice, todays hearing is taking place in our ways and Means Committee hearing room, with members permitted to attend remotely in compliance with the regulations for Remote Committee proceedings, pursuant to House Resolution 965. We currently have 33 members logged in and participating via the webex platform. For those members who arent here in washington and plan to participate in person, we have a limited number of available seats to ensure that we adhere to social distancing guidelines. I encourage members to watch from their office and only come to the hearing room when it is your turn for questioning. Before we turn to todays topic, i want to remind members of a few procedures as we navigate this hybrid hearing setting. First, consistent with regulations, the commit
I want to thank everyone for their adherence to the guidelines as we continue to do our work while protecting the health and safety of our staff, families and communities. Thank you for joining us today. In pursuant to notice, todays hearing is taking place in our ways and Means Committee hearing room, with members permitted to attend remotely in compliance with the regulations for Remote Committee proceedings, pursuant to House Resolution 965. We currently have 33 members logged in and participating via the webex platform. For those members who arent here in washington and plan to participate in person, we have a limited number of available seats to ensure that we adhere to social distancing guidelines. I encourage members to watch from their office and only come to the hearing room when it is your turn for questioning. Before we turn to todays topic, i want to remind members of a few procedures as we navigate this hybrid hearing setting. First, consistent with regulations, the commit
Coons. Convening under different circumstances than our previous meeting. The were cbc following the guidanc the cdc and the office of the attending physician. So were spaced further apart. Our staff is reduced. Though we are grateful for all of them. The general public is watching online rather than filling up the room. So our hearing today will look a little different. I think we could all agree that the capitol feels a little different, the halls of congress feel a little different. Small businesses, if theyre allowed to open at all, are operating under a very different circumstance. American homes have been classrooms. And offices for millions of americanan family. And at least for a while American Life as we know it has changed. Net nonetheless, access or inaccess to Broadband Internet services m especially in rural areas has remain unchanged. And it might be a good topic for us to touch on today. Our witness today of course is the esteemed chairman of they6yf the governments most
The subcommittee meeting will come to order. I want to thank everybody for coming. Ive got a fairly short statement that i will read and then i will turn to senator coons. Were obviously convening under different circumstances than our previous meeting. Were following the guidance of the cdc and the office of attending physician, so were spaced further apart. Our staff is reduced, but were grateful for all of them. The general public is watching online rather than filling up the room. So our hearing today will look a little different. I think we can all agree that the capitol feels a little different, the halls of congress feel a little different. Small businesses if theyre allowed to open at all are operating under very different circumstances. American homes have become classrooms and offices for millions of american families. And at least for a while American Life as we know it has changed. Nonetheless access or inaccess to Broadband Internet services especially in rural areas has b