Victor Fazio: “this bill is good for consumers. It provides a supermarket in the telecommunications industry with one stop shopping for…”

“this bill is good for consumers. It provides a supermarket in the telecommunications industry with one stop shopping for cable and phone service if you wan it. This bill is good for our children. It provides incentives to bring technology and the Internet into our grade schools, middle schools, high schools, and libraries. Congress is--at last--taking into its own hands the deregulation of the telecommunications market which has been handled in a piecemeal fashion by the courts since the 1982 breakup of AT&T. Despite this inefficiency, States have been moving forward. In my home State of California, telephone companies have recently been allowed to offer local long-distance services and their local markets have been opened to facilities-based competition. With this conference agreement, we acknowledge the changes that are taking place in the marketplace an insure that the process by which all competitors compete is fair and evenhanded. I regret that I had to oppose the rule on this bill because of the unconstitutional language relating to abortion. I appreciate representative Lowey's efforts to clarify that everyone's first amendment rights should be protected on the Internet. In light of her efforts, I am now prepared to support final passage of this measure. I do want to point to one other concern however, relating to my district. The goal of this legislation is to create an environment in which new and expanded services are delivered to consumers.”