Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 460) to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of voice communications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination among areas of the United States in the delivery of such communications.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 460, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, a bill that earned unanimous support in the last Congress.

Consumers expect to be able to pick up the telephone and be connected with businesses, friends, and loved ones across the country. In today's connected world, that should not be a tall request. Unfortunately, for many constituents across the country, particularly in rural areas, call quality and reliability are just not up to par compared to their urban counterparts.

This is due, partly, because of the call routing process where long distance and wireless providers use so-called least cost routers. These inexpensive third-party intermediate providers try to complete calls for the lowest possible price, without taking measures to ensure the call actually goes through.

I am sure that most of us have experienced the annoyance of at least one failed or dropped call. You make a call to someone and it rings over and over again but no one, not even the voicemail, picks up. Or, maybe you place a call, only to hear a prerecorded message telling you that the number you dialed is not in service, even though you know you have the right number. Even in cases where you are able to connect, the sound might be distorted or delayed.

For many constituents, this is more than just an annoyance. These missed connections have significant consequences.

Folks rely on the networks for more than just staying in touch with loved ones. Our constituents count on reliable networks to run their businesses and receive messages from our community institutions. A failed call can mean a lost sale for a small rural business. Another failed call might mean that a message from your child's school or your medical provider goes undelivered. These are real and harmful impacts. This bill will address this situation through commonsense improvements.

For the most part, consumers are unaware of these intermediate providers, which has allowed them to be held unaccountable. H.R. 460 takes measured steps to bring these intermediate providers out from the shadows and into the light so that we can hold them accountable to the consuming public.

First, the bill requires intermediate providers to register with the FCC, and it prohibits carriers from using any nonregistered provider. The bill also requires the FCC to establish a database and publish the list of registered providers on its Web site. Finally, the bill requires the FCC to establish quality standards for these intermediate providers, which will raise the bar for all of the providers who provide call routing services.

These straightforward measures are another step in our effort, on a bipartisan basis, to mitigate call completion and quality issues for the consuming public. This bill will build upon the work the FCC has done in recent years.

Our constituents in rural areas face significant challenges compared to their urban counterparts, but subpar call quality should not be one of them. By raising the bar, which this bill does, we will hold the bad actors to higher standards and allow consumers to benefit from the improved integrity of our networks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Young), the distinguished sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Young for being a great partner in the presentation of this bill. Many of us worked together on rural telecommunications issues, from getting broadband to all Vermonters and folks in rural parts of your districts to improving our wireless infrastructure to ensuring we have adequate choice and competition in cable markets. That is because it is our desire, and mine especially, to ensure that rural America has comparable telecom services to urban and suburban America, just as the 1996 Telecommunications Act requires. Making that happen requires constant effort and focus.

We often focus on rural broadband accessibility and affordability so that the next generation of technological innovation does not skip rural America and leave it behind. The promise of innovation, like the Internet of things, should not be earmarked just for urban and suburban America, which is why it is backwards and unfortunate that we are still talking about finding ways to ensure that traditional landline telephone calls can be completed without interruption on a consistent basis, but that is exactly what this bill that I worked on with Representative Young is getting at.

Our bill would require the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, to establish rules that require third-party providers--or least cost routers, as they are called, which is the problem in the call chain--to register their companies, for the first time, with the FCC and, therefore, have to comply with FCC service quality regulations, just like other companies.

This legislation would make it easier for the FCC to hold accountable third-party providers. The FCC will finally know who they are and make them comply with those quality standards.

This is really important in rural areas because we have got companies that do business with urban America. In Vermont, Dakin Farm had rural call completion problems during their busiest times in 2012. That was the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday period.

It really hurt their bottom line. It put them at a competitive disadvantage. When people call in and the call is dropped, they think it is bad service from Dakin Farm or the company that they are calling, when it is not. Those folks have to then deal with the reputational harm that is caused.

It is important in rural school districts like Camels Hump in Vermont that rely on these calls when there is a snowstorm or ice storm--and there is one coming tonight--to check whether, in fact, they have got to get their kids to school or not. So it is a big deal when they need it.

I appreciate, by the way, the work that Representative Young has done on this. I look forward to this bill passing both Chambers and being signed into law so we can, hopefully, make rural call completion issues a thing of the past.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 460, the bipartisan Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, legislation I introduced with my colleague from Vermont, Congressman Welch.

This bill helps fix the significant problems rural Iowans and other rural Americans face from dropped and poor quality calls. Reliable communication is critical for our constituents to live their lives, for our businesses to succeed, and for our communities to thrive. Yet, in rural States and areas across America, phone calls are not getting through or the connection and quality are poor.

Telephone companies often rely on intermediate providers, who are paid to route calls from larger networks to local service providers. Much of the time, this is to mixed results.

There simply is no excuse for these intermediate providers to not fulfill their contracts and leave our rural constituents with unreliable communication service. Dropped, looped, or poor quality calls hurt rural America's quality of life, impacting our small businesses, farmers, consumers, and our families who are in need of emergency assistance and public services. It also gives unfair blame to our essential local service providers when they are not the problem, they are the solution.

A family in rural America should not be disadvantaged because of where they live. Iowa businesses should have the same communication access to conduct daily businesses as those in urban areas.

Improving rural call completion rates and quality are important to ensuring the survival of small towns and granting Americans the choice to live and thrive in whatever community is best for them and their family, rural, urban, or anywhere in between.

Our bill will help address this problem by requiring providers to register with the FCC in order to meet quality standards and ensure reliable phone service in rural areas. It also prohibits providers from using intermediary routing services not registered with the FCC.

I want to personally thank Chairman Blackburn and Ranking Member Pallone for their attention to this important issue, as well as my partner in this, Congressman Welch, for the opportunity to get this bill passed. This bill did pass the House in the 114th Congress, and I am hopeful we can get the partnership we need from the Senate to get this to the finish line. Rural Americans deserve it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act.

This is a bill that I introduced in a bipartisan fashion with my colleagues here on both sides of the aisle in the 114th Congress, and we passed it in 2016. Here in the 115th Congress, we passed it again, but we didn't quite get it to the finish line. But here we are.

I want to thank my Democratic colleague from Vermont (Mr. Welch) for joining me in introducing the legislation. It is much needed.

I want to thank Senator Klobuchar and Senator Thune for finally getting the Senate to act on this important legislation. This is the Senate bill. To me, it doesn't matter whose name or what number is on this bill. It is about good policy getting through to the finish line.

Telephone companies often rely on intermediate providers to connect calls from larger networks to local service providers. All too often, especially in rural areas, those calls are poor quality, looped, dropped, not even connected, or disconnected.

This failure hurts our families, small businesses, farms, and consumers in rural America who are in need of emergency assistance, public services, or are simply trying to do business.

Families and businesses in rural America should have the same communication access as those living in urban areas. Improving rural call completion rates and quality are important to ensuring the strength of small towns and granting Americans the choice to live and thrive in whatever community is best for them and their family--rural, urban, or wherever.

Our bill will help address this problem by requiring providers to register with the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, in order to meet quality standards and ensure reliable phone service in rural areas. It also prohibits providers from using intermediary routing services not registered with the FCC.

After years of hard work in Congress and by stakeholders spread throughout Iowa, across the heartland, and across the country, I am happy to see this meaningful legislation finally moving again, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Walden; Ranking Member Pallone; and the subcommittee chair and ranking member, Mrs. Blackburn and Mr. Doyle, for their help and leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support S. 96, the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act. It is a bipartisan bill championed by Representative David Young and cosponsored by a number of other Members, including Representatives Welch and Loebsack from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

We deal with a lot of technologically complicated issues on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, but this bill aims to address the most essential function of our telephone system: making sure that all Americans' calls go through.

Many people take for granted our modern communications tools. But in rural America, even the basic function of connecting a call is sometimes next to impossible.

Consumers tell us often when they call rural areas, they are met with false busy signals or calls not even arriving, just silence.

This isn't just an important problem for rural Americans, but also for people in all of our districts who want to reach loved ones across the country and can't.

This status quo is unacceptable. We need reliable telephone service to keep us connected. It is too important for everyday life, particularly in the wake of the terrible natural disasters that swept through our country earlier this year.

It is clearer than ever that basic phone service is critical when responding to emergencies and critical for everything from finding a job to managing your health.

We know that problems with call completion are often related to intermediate providers--the middlemen hired to route calls. This bill requires intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards. These commonsense steps should make it easier to figure out when providers are cutting corners or not doing their jobs.

Ultimately, the bill puts consumers first by helping them make sure that we can stay connected to one another.

S. 96 is a bipartisan bill that passed on suspension earlier this Congress and last Congress, and I urge my colleagues to support it today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good piece of legislation, and I hope all Members will vote for it when it comes to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.