Larry Pressler: “It is with a sense of relief and pride that we bring to the Senate floor the conference report on the telecommunications…”

“It is with a sense of relief and pride that we bring to the Senate floor the conference report on the telecommunications bill. I wish to commend my colleague, Senator Hollings, for his outstanding leadership and bipartisan spirit throughout this debate. This long debate has brought us to the point today where we have a conference report that is very positive. It is procompetitive and deregulatory. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 will get everybody into everybody else's business. The purpose of this bill is to update the 1934 Communications Act. This is the first complete rewrite of the telecommunications law in our country. It is very much needed. I predict that this will be succeeded someday as we get into the wireless age by another act, maybe in 10 or 15 years. But this Telecommunications Act will provide us with a road map into the wireless age and into the next century. Mr. President, what has occurred in our country is that through court decisions and through the 1934 act we have developed an economic apartheid regarding telecommunications, that is, the regional Bell companies have the local telephone service, the long-distance companies have the long-distance service, the cable companies have their section, the broadcast companies have their section. This bill attempts to get everybody into everybody else's business and let in new entrants.”