Maurice Hinchey: “this is the most important telecommunications bill to come to the floor of this House not just in this Congress but in…”

“this is the most important telecommunications bill to come to the floor of this House not just in this Congress but in many, many years. If it passes and becomes law, it will determine the way the telecommunications industry develops in America for untold years to come. Yet we are provided with essentially 2 hours, or less than 2 hours to debate the bill in its essence on the floor here today. The opposition is given, what, 15 minutes to provide alternative points of view. This is scandalous. The people are not being served here. There ought to be opportunities to debate this bill in its full content and in detail. Why is that? Because the bill, as it is currently written, makes some terrible mistakes. The premise of the bill is that if monopoly situations are provided to monopolistic companies and get rid of all regulation at the Federal and State level that somehow we will have a fair and open process and a level playing field and that somehow consumers will get the benefit. History shows us different. This bill will cause prices to rise, and it will ensure that vast areas of the country continue to not get service. Particularly rural areas like upstate New York will not get the service that they need. The bill alleges to create jobs. Well, the CLECs in New York, for example, now employ about 100,000 people. Those jobs are in danger of being lost and almost certainly would be lost if this bill were to become law.”