Daniel Inouye: “today, I have agreed to cosponsor telecommunications legislation introduced by Senator Stevens. I do so in a spirit of…”

“today, I have agreed to cosponsor telecommunications legislation introduced by Senator Stevens. I do so in a spirit of bipartisanship because I believe that bipartisanship will be required if we are to successfully update our Nation's communications laws. My cosponsorship, however, is not a demonstration of support for the bill itself. This is the draft of the majority staff, and I have numerous, substantive objections to the bill in its current form. Given that my colleagues and I have not yet had an opportunity to weigh in on this critical legislation, I consider its introduction the very beginning of the legislative process. Now that the majority staff's draft is no longer a secret, we can begin a full review of the bill and address the many issues important to me and my colleagues. At first glance, some provisions will need to be deleted or changed substantially and some issues still need to be addressed. For example, we cannot ignore concerns about the potential for discrimination by network operators, but the draft appears to do just that by failing to create enforceable protections that will ensure network neutrality. Similarly, I believe that the provisions addressing video franchise reform must follow more closely the principles Senator Burns and I offered earlier this year.…”