Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of efforts to address the concerns of consumers about the telecommunications bill now before the House. Let me say that I believe there is strong support in the House for free and open competition among the various elements of the telecommunications industry. I also support providing free and open competition to the American consumer who should be able to choose freely between providers of telephone, cable and other telecommunications services. The question is not over the merits of free and open competition as a goal. There are, however, real questions about how we provide sufficient protection for consumers during a transition period to free and open competition. A key test is whether adequate time is provided to ensure that true competition is present before current regulatory protections are eliminated. Failure to provide such protections would provide unacceptable opportunities for the abuse of consumers by firms which enjoy a monopoly or quasi-monopoly position in their individual sectors of the telecommunications industry. That is why I oppose in particular the provisions of H.R. 1555 which would repeal prematurely the cable rate regulations enacted by Congress as part of the Cable Television Consumer Protection Act of 1992.”