Political Quotes

“I am the supporter of the Tauzin-Dingell measure, and I rise this morning to describe why its passage is in the public interest. I will take this time to make three points. First, passage of this measure will stimulate the deployment of broadband services by telephone companies. The 1996 Telecommunications Act contains an unbundling requirement that enables competitors to lease at highly favorable rates only a portion of a telephone company's network and then to combine that leased element with the telephone company's own equipment in order to offer a complete service. Now this provision is good policy if the goal is to promote competition in the offering of traditional voice telephone service, and I would note that many of the cities in the United States have as many as one-half of the lines serving businesses in the hands of the competitors to the local telephone companies. But the unbundling requirement is terrible policy if the goal is to encourage the telephone company to offer high speed Internet access service to a larger number of homes and businesses.”