Mr. Dreier. You are certainly among them, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much for being here.

And let's now charge ahead with my very good friend, Vern Ehlers, who is President of the House Republican Sophomore Class and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee's Information Systems working group and what I saw_he describes himself as a Trekkie or something. I don't know exactly what the term that you used, Vern, is, but we know that you are an expert on all of this stuff that is around us, and so we are very privileged to have you here.

STATEMENT OF THE HON. VERNON J. EHLERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN

Mr. Ehlers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the phrase was techie, not Trekkie.

Mr. Dreier. I come from California, you know.

Mr. Ehlers. My ears look too normal to be a Trekkie.

It is a pleasure to be here, and I do congratulate you in setting up this what is, in a sense, an experiment in precisely the topic we are discussing today.

I will try to summarize my comments in 5 minutes, since I did not have time to prepare written testimony.

Mr. Dreier. Vern, you know, we are moving ahead here. Vince just told me that I failed to recognize my colleague, Scott McInnis, who is in Pueblo, Colorado.

There you go, Tony. The fact that he is not sitting right here and I am looking at Minnesota, yes, Tony just said out of sight, out of mind. Well, we need another screen.

Would you mind if before you went into your 5 minutes I recognized Scott McInnis?

Mr. Ehlers. Very well.

Mr. Dreier. Can we see Pueblo, Colorado, pop up there. All we are looking at is Minnesota now.

Scott, if you can hear me, you have got to turn your mike on. That is the way you will pop up here.

Mr. McInnis. I'm on.

Mr. Dreier. Okay. We can hear you, but we can't see you.

Mr. McInnis. Let me say --

Mr. Dreier. Speak up, Scott, and keep talking and you should pop onto the screen here. We are trying to prove Tony Beilenson wrong.

Mr. McInnis. First of all, Mr. Chairman --

Mr. Beilenson. It sounds like Scott.

Mr. McInnis. -- don't be concerned, Mr. Chairman, that because I am out of your sight I am going to be out of your mind. I am here and looking forward --

Mr. Dreier. There we are. We see you now, Scott.

Mr. McInnis. I am here in Colorado. Sitting to my left is Dr. Joe May, who is the President of Pueblo Community College. This is a very exciting event for us today in Colorado.

As many of my colleagues know -- and I send my greetings to Mr. Beilenson, of course, Mr. Goss, Mr. Chairman, yourself, Mr. Ehlers and other Members. As you know, we were all together about 10 hours ago. I have now since come out to Colorado. We in this community are excited because it allows us to participate.

Now, we are in a remote section out in rural America. My district is one of the largest districts in the country. In fact, we have probably 56 mountains over 14,000 feet and my district alone, just my district, is larger than the State of Florida. So communication and the advanced technology, Mr. Chairman, that we are about to discuss today, I think holds a very, very exciting future, because we are going to be able to take a lot of what we do in Washington and place it into the small communities, the communities of Grand Junction or clear up in Meeker, Colorado, or southwestern Colorado down in the mountains and the plains, or over in Summit County, or here as we are doing in Pueblo, Colorado.

So we look forward to that. Again, this communication, Mr. Chairman, I think is going to be key.

Mr. Goss' points and Mr. Beilenson's points are very well taken. We are at the very beginning stages of this type of communication, so there are a lot of things that we are going to have to work out. There are a lot of bugs that we are going to have go in and sort out. But it is a thrill to be out here in Colorado. And as a result of our communication today, I am able to participate in a community meeting and yet be able to travel in my district.

Mind you, to get across my district will take several hours of flying. Today I will be able to participate in four or five local community events here in Pueblo, Colorado. I am able to go on to another community called Canyon City, and then fly over halfway across the State to Grand Junction to participate in an event there tonight, and yet participate in the community meeting there with you in Washington, D.C.

So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the meeting. I want to thank Dr. May and Pueblo Community College, a great institution out here in Colorado, for allowing us to use these facilities. And I am surrounded -- it may not be on camera but I am surrounded by several members of the community who are -- wanted to come down and see this. This is exciting news for us in Colorado, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for allowing us to participate.