Larry Pressler: “I think one of the major duties of the new Congress will be to pass a major telecommunications reform bill--a new…”

“I think one of the major duties of the new Congress will be to pass a major telecommunications reform bill--a new procompetitive, deregulatory bill. I know there are many views in this body on national telecommunications policy. The Republican controlled 104th Congress has a truly historic opportunity to pass comprehensive telecommunications reform legislation. Last year, the Congress almost passed a bill. The House of Representatives passed a bill by an overwhelming vote. The Senate Commerce Committee passed out a bill 18 to 2 that became entangled here on the Senate floor. Why should we pass a telecommunications bill in 1995? The reason is that the country needs a roadmap for the next century in telecommunications as we continue to move forward in the Information Age. We need to have more competition and more deregulation. Past efforts to craft telecommunications legislation have been bogged down by overly regulatory approaches. A fresh look at the issues, grounded in procompetitive, deregulatory principles, is the best way to meet our common policy objectives. We need to have all telecommunications markets open to competition.”