Federal Electronic Equipment Donation Act of 2008

Floor Speech

FEDERAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT DONATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 19, 2008)

BREAK IN THE TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation that codifies the 1996 executive order of President Clinton that was issued to promote the proper use of excess Federal computers and electronic equipment to schools of our Nation.

I might want to clarify, because I know a lot of people hear us on the House floor and they only know what they've heard. If you hear ``excess'' and ``surplus,'' you might think that, in fact, what we're doing is simply overbuying and letting it sit in warehouses and then giving it away. Virtually all of this equipment in the executive branch, as in the legislative branch, are equipment that we have used for 2, 3, 4 years. It is, in fact, past its prime for us, but very usable by many other institutions.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to support this bill. I would like to also make sure people understand that we're not just simply overbuying. And the term ``excess'' or ``surplus'' doesn't by any means indicate that we're not using America's dollars wisely, but rather, we're using America's dollars again by making them available to people who can use a slightly used computer, who don't need the latest version of Windows and might not need the latest version of Pentium software. But, in fact, this can help schools around America in poor neighborhoods and even not so poor neighborhoods have a better opportunity and use their hard-earned and hard-given dollars in other areas.

So I support this resolution. I hope that the American public understands that this is a great way of causing these products not to go into landfills 3, 4, 5 years earlier than they otherwise would by making them available to those who can use them.

BREAK IN THE TRANSCRIPT

Source