[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 27, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14411-S14413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BURNS:
  S. 1278. A bill to establish an education satellite loan guarantee 
program for communications among education, Federal, State, and local 
institutions and agencies and instructional and educational resource 
providers; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


          the educational satellite loan guarantee program act

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, today I introduced a bill to establish an 
education satellite loan guarantee program from communications among 
education, Federal, State, and local institutions and agencies and 
instructional and educational resource providers. Americans face many 
problems and challenges in education. From Montana to Maine, local 
school districts to large universities, educators are being asked to do 
more with less. There is overcrowding in urban areas and a lack of 
access to educational opportunities in many rural areas. We are being 
challenged as a nation, and we must react as a nation with unity of 
purpose. We must marshall our resources and save our children's future. 
Over this Nation's history, we have used good old American creativity 
to conquer many challenges and force new horizons. I believe that 
technology plays a key role in making us world leaders. In the areas of 
space and defense, our technological know-how has made us second to 
none.
  We should act now to apply our same know-how to education. Whether it 
be through copper wire, glass, or satellites, distance learning can 
provide access to the vast educational resources of our Nation, 
regardless of wealth or geographic location. There is a crisis facing 
America's distance education providers and users at all levels of 
schooling due to shortages and price increases in satellite capacity. 
This crisis in the distance education field has been noted and 
documented by the satellite and broadcasting industries and the 
National Education Telecommunications Organization [NETO]. The crisis 
facing the educators is a lack of availability of satellite capacity 
and dramatically escalating costs which puts an educational 
institution's ability to equitably transmit instructions at high risk. 
We must start right here, right now, by taking advantage of the 
satellite technology that exist today.
  More than 90 American college provide education and instruction to K-
12 school districts, colleges, libraries, and students in other distant 
education centers, nationwide and internationally. In my own State of 
Montana and throughout the country from Washington State through Texas 
to Maine, teaches and students are receiving word that they will not 
have access to instruction heretofore received in science, math, 
language, and other special events. Rural and urban school districts, 
family health centers in hard-to-reach areas and rural hospitals will 
be immediately impacted at the start-up of the fall 1995 semester. If 
nothing is done to ameliorate the crisis more than 200 small education 
entrepreneurial communications centers are at risk 

[[Page S 14412]]
by the fall of 1996. These are communications centers in America's 
colleges, school districts, and education consortia which include State 
education and television agencies who have invested State and local 
taxes to create cost-effective, equitable transmission using satellite, 
telephone, and cable to deliver instruction and training in classrooms 
throughout the Nation.
  For an interim solution to the crisis, Congresswoman Constance 
Morella, Congressman Ceorge E. Brown, Jr., and I have asked NASA to 
dedicate unused satellite capacity to the education sector as the prime 
users for a period up to 3 years. However, we must begin to create 
an adequate satellite system dedicated to education to meet the 
educational needs and demands of America's students, teachers, and 
workers for the future.

  The bill introduced today will facilitate the acquisition by an 
appropriate nonprofit, public corporation of a communications satellite 
system dedicated to the transmission of instructions, education, and 
training programming that is not subject to preemptive use by Federal 
Government for purposes of national security. The bill would authorize 
the Secretary of Interior to carry out a loan guarantee program under 
which a non-profit, public corporation could borrow funds to buy or 
lease satellites dedicated to instructional programming. A dedicated 
educational satellite will allow us to address two barriers faced by 
those involved in distance learning via satellite. First, it will 
insure instructional programmers that they will be able to obtain 
affordable satellite transmission time without risk of preemption by 
commercial users. Second, it will allow educators using the programming 
to have one dish focused on one satellite off which they can receive at 
least 24 channels of instructional programming--every hour of the 
school year.
  There is no doubt in my mind that distance learning is a growth area 
and that there is a role for the Federal Government in facilitating 
that growth. The Office of Technology Assessment's 1989 report, 
``Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education'' documents the 
recent growth of distance learning, calling the growth in the K-12 
sector dramatic. OTA anticipates this growth to continue. The National 
Governors' Association in 1988 found that while fewer than 10 States 
were promoting distance learning in 1987; 1 year later two-thirds of 
the States reported involvement. The NGA passed a resolution in 1988, 
and revised it in 1991, expressing their support for a dedicated 
education and public purpose satellite-based telecommunications 
network. Following their 1989 education summit in Charlottesville, VA 
where former Governor Wallace Wilkinson of Kentucky and other Governors 
raised with President Bush the proposal for this dedicated system, the 
EDSAT Institute was formed to analyze the proposal. In 1991, they 
issued a report entitled ``Analysis of a Proposal for an Education 
Satellite,'' and they found as did the OTA report, that individual 
States and consortiums of States are investing heavily in distance 
learning technologies and that the education sector is a significant 
market.
  The organization, the National Educations Telecommunications 
Organization [NETO], was formed after the EDSAT Institute held seven 
regional meetings during the summer of 1991. Through these meetings, 
they recognized the need to aggregate the education market for distance 
learning and concluded that an education programming users organization 
was needed. NETO has a distinguished board of educators, public policy 
officials, State education agencies, and telecommunications experts who 
are committed to the goal of developing an integrated 
telecommunications system dedicated to education. The first step is 
what we are facilitating through Federal loan guarantees.
  If this legislation passes, the Federal Government will be setting a 
national policy in support of a telecommunications infrastructure for 
distance learning. A policy that will cost the government relatively 
little compared to the benefits our Nation will receive through 
improved education and educational access. The risk to the Federal 
Government is minimal. The only risk the Government is assuming is the 
risk that the distance learning market will dissipate. I think the 
findings of the National Governors' Association, the OTA, and the EDSAT 
Institute prove highly unlikely. But I also believe that with distance 
learning, as with transportation and other infrastructure-dependent 
markets, once an infrastructure is in place the market will expand 
beyond our current expectations.

  A dedicated satellite system will bring instructional programming 
which is now scattered across 12 to 15 satellites into one place in the 
sky. This collocation will allow educators to receive a variety of 
instructional programs without having to constantly reorient their 
satellite dish. By making the investment in a dedicated system on the 
front end, we are reducing distance learning costs for educators on the 
State and local levels. The programmers will benefit because they will 
be able to market their programming to a wider audience and will be 
guaranteed reliable satellite time at an affordable rate. A rate that 
will be equal no matter how much time they buy. Programmers include 
public schools, colleges, universities, State agencies, private sector 
corporations and consortiums, such as the star schools consortiums, and 
independents. The users will benefit because their investment in 
equipment to receive instructional programming may be reduced because 
of the technological advantages of focusing on one point in the sky. 
Users include primary and secondary students, college, and university 
students, professionals interested in continuing education, community 
members, and government bodies. The benefits far outweigh the costs in 
my mind.
  A dedicated educational satellite will allow our kids to benefit from 
equal access to quality education. This is really just the first step. 
Both NETO and I believe that a telecommunications infrastructure for 
use by the educational sector should not be technology specific. I plan 
to continue pushing for passage of S. 1200 to make a national broadband 
fiber-optic network a reality. NETO's vision is for an integrated, 
nationwide telecommunications system, a transparent highway that 
encompasses land and space, over which educational and instructional 
resources can be delivered. They envision bringing together the land-
based systems that are already in place, not replacing them. This is an 
inclusive effort, not an exclusive one. I hope that my colleagues will 
join me in making this a reality.
  Technology has transformed every sector of our lives. It can 
transform education as well. It will not replace teachers, it will 
empower them with better teaching tools. It will inspire our young 
people to actively engage in their education. It will expose them to 
the world around them and broaden their horizons. Our Nation's children 
deserve no less.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1278

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

       It is the purpose of this Act to facilitate the acquisition 
     of a dedicated communications satellite system on which 
     instruction, education, and training programming can be 
     collocated and free from preemption.

     SEC. 2. EDUCATIONAL SATELLITE LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM.

       (a) Program Authorized.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary of Commerce may carry out a 
     program to guarantee any lender against loss of principal or 
     interest on a loan described in subsection (b) made by such 
     lender to a nonprofit, public corporation that--
       (A) is recognized for expertise in governing and operating 
     educational and instructional telecommunications in schools, 
     colleges, libraries, State agencies, workplaces, and other 
     distant education centers;
       (B) was in existence as of January 1, 1992;
       (C) the charter of which is designed for affiliation with 
     Federal, State, and local educational and instructional 
     institutions and agencies, and other distant education and 
     instructional resource providers;
       (D) has a governing board that includes members 
     representing elementary and secondary education, community 
     and State colleges, universities, elected officials, and the 
     private sector; and

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       (E) has as its sole purpose the acquisition and operation 
     of an integrated communications satellite system and other 
     telecommunications facilities dedicated to transmitting 
     instruction, education, and training programming.
       (2) Interim acquisition of transponder capacity.--As an 
     interim measure to acquire a communications satellite system 
     dedicated to instruction, education, and training 
     programming, a corporation that meets the requirements of 
     paragraph (1) may acquire unused satellite transponder 
     capacity owned or leased by a department or agency of the 
     Federal Government or unused satellite transponder capacity 
     owned or leased by a non-Federal broadcast organization for 
     reuse by schools, colleges, community colleges, universities, 
     State agencies, libraries, and other distant education 
     centers at competitive, low costs, subject only to preemption 
     for national security purposes.
       (3) Encouragement of intercon-nectivity.--A corporation 
     that meets the requirements of paragraph (1) shall encourage 
     the interconnectivity of elementary and secondary schools, 
     colleges, and community colleges, universities, State 
     agencies, libraries, and other distant education centers with 
     ground facilities and services of United States domestic 
     common carriers and international common carriers and ground 
     facilities and services of satellite, cable, and other 
     private communications systems in order to ensure technical 
     compatibility and interconnectivity of the space segment with 
     existing communications facilities in the United States and 
     foreign countries to best serve United States education, 
     instruction, and training needs and to achieve cost-
     effective, interoperability for friendly end-user, ``last 
     mile'' access and use.
       (4) Technical and training needs.--A corporation that meets 
     the requirements of paragraph (1) shall determine the 
     technical and training needs of educations users and 
     providers to facilitate coordinated and efficient use of a 
     communications satellite system dedicated to instruction, 
     education, and training to further unlimited access for 
     schools, colleges, community colleges, universities, State 
     agencies, libraries, and other distant education centers.
       (b) Eligible Loans.--The Secretary of Commerce may 
     guarantee a loan under this section only if--
       (1) the corporation described in subsection (a)(1) has--
       (A) investigated all practical means of acquiring a 
     communications satellite system;
       (B) reported to the Secretary the findings of such 
     investigation; and
       (C) identified for acquisition the most cost-effective, 
     high-quality communications satellite system to meet the 
     purpose of this Act; and
       (2) the proceeds of such loan are used solely to acquire 
     and operate a communications satellite system dedicated to 
     transmitting instruction, education, and training 
     programming.
       (c) Loan Guarantee Limitations.--The Secretary of Commerce 
     may not guarantee more than $270,000,000 in loans under the 
     program under this section, of which--
       (1) not more than $250,000,000 shall be for the guarantee 
     of such loans the proceeds of which are used to acquire a 
     communications satellite system; and
       (2) not more than $20,000,000 shall be used for the 
     guarantee of such loans the proceeds of which are used to pay 
     the costs of not more than 4 years of operating and 
     management expenses associated with providing integrated 
     communications satellite system services through the 
     integrated communications satellite system referred to in 
     subsection (a)(1)(E).
       (d) Liquidation or Assignment.--
       (1) In general.--In order for a lender to receive a loan 
     guarantee under this section the lender shall agree to assign 
     to the United States any right or interest in the 
     communications satellite system or communications satellite 
     system services that such lender possesses upon payment by 
     the Secretary of Commerce on such loan guarantee.
       (2) Disposition.--The Secretary may exercise, retain, or 
     dispose of any right or interest acquired pursuant to 
     paragraph (1) in any manner that the Secretary considers 
     appropriate.
       (e) Special Rule.--Any loan guarantee under this section 
     shall be guaranteed with full faith and credit of the United 
     States.
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each 
     fiscal year to carry out this section.
       (g) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) The term ``acquire'' includes acquisition through 
     lease, purchase, or donation.
       (2) The term ``communications satellite system'' means one 
     or more communications satellites capable of providing 
     service from space, including transponder capacity, on such 
     satellite or satellites.
       (3) The term ``national security preemption'' means 
     preemption by the Federal Government for national security 
     purposes.
                                 ______