Brewster Kahle, Senator Alex Padilla, and Lila Bailey in Washington, D.C. October 28, 2025.
On October 28, 2025, Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) entered into the Congressional Record a statement honoring the Internet Archive for reaching a historic milestone—preserving one trillion web pages. That same day, Senator Padilla met with Internet Archive founder and digital librarian Brewster Kahle, along with policy counsel Lila Bailey, to mark the occasion and discuss the importance of long-term access to public information.
RECOGNIZING THE INTERNET ARCHIVE’S ONE-TRILLIONTH WEB PAGE; Congressional Record Vol. 171, No. 179
(Senate – October 28, 2025)
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-171/issue-179/senate-section/article/S7780-4
[Page S7780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING THE INTERNET ARCHIVE'S ONE-TRILLIONTH WEB PAGE
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate an
extraordinary milestone in the democratization of public information,
as the Internet Archive marks their one-trillionth web page archived.
Founded by digital librarian and MIT alumnus Brewster Kahle, the
Internet Archive first launched in San Francisco in 1996 with the goal
of providing "Universal Access to All Knowledge" by creating a
"shared digital library of humanity's online history." In 2001, they
launched the "Wayback Machine," making their archives easily
accessible to the public.
Coordinating with governments, nonprofits, institutions, and
individuals to grow their digital collection, for nearly three decades,
the Internet Archive has worked to preserve everything from academic
research to personal blogs, local news stories to international
breaking news, and troves of official government records--including the
archival of websites from every Presidential administration since 2008.
Information from its archives has even been cited by every Circuit
Court in the United States and the Supreme Court.
Working to prevent and repair broken web links, the Internet Archive
has become a modern-day, digital Library of Alexandria and given
billions of people the tools that once only professional archivists had
at their disposal.
On a personal note, earlier this year, it was my honor to help
designate the Internet Archive as a Federal depository library,
allowing the Internet Archive to digitize and expand public access to
Federal Government publications for years to come.
For their outstanding commitment to the public good and tireless
preservation of public information, today we celebrate San Francisco's
own Internet Archive. Here is to the next trillion.