Joe Biden on Technology Former Vice President; previously Democratic Senator (DE)

Infrastructure decade: we used to have the best in the world

That's why it was so important to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law--the most sweeping investment to rebuild America in history. We're done talking about infrastructure weeks. We're going to have an infrastructure decade.

It is going to transform America and put us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st Century that we face with the rest of the world-- particularly with China. As I've told Xi Jinping, it is never a good bet to bet against the American people.

We'll create good jobs for millions of Americans, modernizing roads, airports, ports, and waterways all across America. We'll build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, begin to replace poisonous lead pipes. And tonight, I'm announcing that this year we will start fixing over 65,000 miles of highway and 1,500 bridges in disrepair.

Stop tech companies collecting personal data on our children

Largest investment ever to restore crumbling infrastructure

• Create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure--from roads and bridges to green spaces and water systems to electricity grids and universal broadband.
• Ensuring clean, safe drinking water is a right in all communities--rural to urban, rich and poor--investing in the repair of water pipelines and sewer systems, replacement of lead service pipes, and upgrade of treatment plants.

PROMISE KEPT:ÿ(NBC News): President Joe Biden has delivered on a key campaign promise to deliver the largest investment ever in restoring crumbling roads, bridges and other types of physical infrastructure. Biden said that the bill would have a direct impact on people's daily lives by creating union jobs, and expanding broadband internet access. The bill also puts money toward clean water initiatives at a time when studies have shown that millions of people are exposed to unsafe tap water.

We have to develop and dominate future technologies

Appoint National Security Advisor for Cyber Technology

We've elevated the status of cyber issues within our government, including appointing the first Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology. We're launching an urgent initiative to improve our capability, readiness, and resilience in cyberspace.

Good-paying jobs via new green infrastructure

The rainforests of Brazil are being torn down, are being ripped down. More carbon is absorbed in that rainforest than every bit of carbon that's emitted in the United States. Instead of doing something about that, I would be gathering up and making sure we had the countries of the world coming up with $20 billion, and say, "Here's $20 billion. Stop tearing down the forest. And If you don't, then you're going to have significant economic consequences." It's going to create thousands and millions of jobs. Good paying jobs.

NASA has cancer expertise: they know most about radiation

Well, guess what? NASA knows more about radiation than any doc in the world knows about radiation, and whether or not the damage done--what's the present protocol? You go in, you find the tumor, you excise it. You use radiation to try to kill the bad stuff, but you kill a lot of good stuff on the way in.

[We have to always try new methods]. I have about 17 Nobel laureates that are working on the Biden Cancer Initiative. And we can now do a million, billion calculations per second, so if you're able to take a cancer genome, you get that and you sequence it, you can identify the precise kind of cancer and, in a matter of minutes, you're able to determine the particular therapy.

Build half million charging stations on highways

Install 550,000 charging stations on all new highways

Biden: We have to not rebuild to the standard that existed before when we talk about when we come in and help people. We have to rebuild the standard that exists today. For example, we shouldn't build another new highway in America that doesn't have charging stations on it. We have an opportunity to put 550,000 charging stations so that we own the electric vehicle market, creating millions of jobs for people and installing them as well as making sure that we own the electric vehicle market. There's so many things we can do and we have to make sure we explain it to those people who are displaced, that their skills are going to be needed for the new opportunities.

High-speed rail & mass transit would remove millions of cars

BIDEN: I think we should, depending on what it is they're exporting for what they're replacing. Everything is incremental. For example, about transportation. I've been pushing really hard for mass transit and for rail. We can take millions of vehicles off the road if we had high-speed rail. I've been a champion of that for the last 25 years. We know the corridors where we could do that. It would literally take millions of vehicles off the road. But you have to have a rail system that makes people say, "if I get on that rail, I will get there as fast as I would have gotten had I driven and I can afford to do it relative to the cost of my driving." There's a direct correlation. This is something I spent the bulk of my career on, trying to save Amtrak and other things like transportation. But my point is, we can begin to change the arc in a significant way, [by] investing in the science and the technology and the changes that are available.

In battle for America's soul we choose science over fiction

Full electric vehicle future by 2030

$15B initiative to rebuild energy & water infrastructure

Double amount of spectrum available for wireless broadband

The report summarizes the compelling evidence that additional spectrum for wireless broadband is needed to accommodate the surging demand for wireless data traffic, projected to increase by a factor of twenty by 2015. The report also describes the potential for wireless broadband to play a transformative role in public safety and as a platform for innovation in many areas of the economy.

"I've been working on changing the way we allocate spectrum for a long time, because a smarter system is good for our economy, good for innovation, and vital to keeping our cops, firefighters and EMTs safe," said Vice President Biden.

Internet is new public space; make it a force for democracy

More than 5 billion people will connect to the Internet in the next 20 years. And most of them will live in countries and regions that are now under-represented online. The benefits they'll derive from it are going to depend in large degree on the choices all of us today make. The Internet itself is not inherently a force for democracy or oppression, for war or for peace. Like any public square or any platform for commerce, the Internet is neutral. But what we do there isn't neutral. It's up to us to decide whether and how we will protect it against the dangers that can occur in cyberspace while maintaining the conditions that give rise to its many benefits.

No exclusive government control over Internet resources

So the United States stands behind the current approach which harnesses the best of governments and private sector and civil society to manage the technical evolution of the Internet in real time. This public-private collaboration has kept the Internet up and running all over the world.

WikiLeaks founder is a high-tech terrorist

"This guy has done things and put in jeopardy the lives and occupations of people in other parts of the world," Biden said. "He's made it difficult to conduct our business with our allies and our friends. ... It has done damage."

Biden also claimed the leaks have had a direct impact on his own work when meeting with world leaders. "There is a desire now to meet with me alone rather than have staff in the room," he said. "It makes things more cumbersome."

Biden said the Justice Department is exploring possible legal action against Assange. His comments echoed those made by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell earlier this month. "I think the man is a high-tech terrorist," McConnell said.

China invests 7% of GDP in infrastructure; we invest only 1%

Proposed $980M for tunnel repair; others have dropped ball

A: I didn’t drop the ball. In 1992, I proposed a $20 billion infrastructure bill proposed by the mayors. We don’t need any more studies; 560,000 bridges--27% of them are in bad shape. We have been proposing since the day after 9/11 that we spend $980 million to refurbish the tunnels on the East Coast. My colleagues need to get on board. These guys, Republicans, have been irresponsible about our infrastructure, and the safety of this country.

Voted NO on restoring $550M in funding for Amtrak for 2007.

Proponents of the bill say to vote YEA because:
• [In my state], Philadelphia's 30th Street station is the second busiest train station nationally, with over 3.7 million boarding a year. And 3,000 people are employed by Amtrak in Pennsylvania. Amtrak and the health of Amtrak is important.
• Last year the Senate transportation bill had $1.45 billion for Amtrak, which is obviously more than the $900 million in the current budget proposal. I am offering an amendment to increase that funding from the $900 million which is in the bill right now to the $1.45 billion level and adding $550 million.
• I support funding through the section 920 account [without a tax increase]. We have seen that without raising the cap or without raising taxes, the Senate has been able to come up with a robust number for Amtrak which I will support within the context of a responsible budget.
• We have spent less money on Amtrak in the last 35 years than we will on highways in this year alone. And highways don't pay for themselves, even with the gas tax. Neither does mass transit, either in this country or anywhere else in the world. But we subsidize them because they improve the quality of our lives.
• We have never provided the kind of commitment to Amtrak that we have for other modes of transportation, and this amendment will be an important step to getting Amtrak off the starvation budgets that it has subsisted on for far too long.

Opponents of the bill say to vote NAY because:
• The problem with that is there is no money in the section 920 account. If we want to talk about "funny money" financing, that is it--taking money from an account that has no money. This whole budget takes money we don't have. The result is we keep running up the debt.

Voted YES on disallowing FCC approval of larger media conglomerates.

Voted YES on Internet sales tax moratorium.

Voted YES on telecomm deregulation.

Fund nanomaterial research project for car batteries.

A bill to promote the future of the American automobile industry, and for other purposes.

ADVANCED ENERGY INITIATIVE FOR VEHICLES:
• To enable and promote, in partnership with industry, comprehensive development, demonstration, and commercialization of a wide range of electric drive components, systems, and vehicles using diverse electric drive transportation technologies;
• to make critical public investments to help private industry, institutions of higher education, National Laboratories, and research institutions to expand innovation, industrial growth, and jobs in the United States;
• to accelerate the widespread commercialization of all types of electric drive vehicle technology into all sizes and applications of vehicles, including commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicles; and
• to improve the energy efficiency of and reduce the petroleum use in transportation.

The Secretary shall conduct a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application for electric drive transportation technology, including:
1. high-capacity, high-efficiency batteries;
2. control system development and power train development and integration for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicles, and engine dominant hybrid electric vehicles;
3. nanomaterial technology applied to both battery and fuel cell systems;
4. large-scale demonstrations, testing, and evaluation of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in different applications with different batteries and control systems, including military applications; mass market passenger and light-duty truck applications; private fleet applications; and medium- and heavy-duty applications.

Overturn FCC approval of media consolidation.

Congressional Summary:Disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 22, 2008, relating to broadcast media ownership. Declares that the rule shall have no force or effect.

Proponents' Argument in Favor:Sen. DORGAN: The FCC loosened the ban on cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations. We seek with this resolution of disapproval to reverse the FCC's fast march to ease media ownership rules. The FCC has taken a series of destructive actions in the past two decades that I believe have undermined the public interest. [Now they have given] a further green light to media concentration.

The FCC voted to allow cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the top 20 markets, with loopholes for mergers outside of the top 20 markets. The newspapers would be allowed to buy stations ranked above fifth and above.

The rule change was framed as a modest compromise. But make no mistake, this is a big deal. As much as 44% of the population lives in the top 20 markets. The last time the FCC tried to do this, in 2003, the Senate voted to block it.

This rule will undercut localism and diversity of ownership around the country. Studies show that removing the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership results in a net loss in the amount of local news produced in the market as a whole. In addition, while the FCC suggests that cross-ownership is necessary to save failing newspapers, the publicly traded newspapers earn annual rates of return between 16% and 18%.

This Resolution of Disapproval will ensure this rule change has no effect. This is again a bipartisan effort to stop the FCC from destroying the local interests that we have always felt must be a part of broadcasting.