[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6244-S6245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 65--RELATIVE TO THE INTERNET

  Mr. PRESSLER (for himself and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation:

                            S. Con. Res. 65

       Whereas approximately 18,000,000 people use the Internet 
     and nearly 100,000,000 expect to use it by 1998;
       Whereas the Internet is changing the way the world 
     communicates, conducts business, and educates;
       Whereas the Internet can lead to a more open democratic 
     process if fully utilized by elected representatives;
       Whereas many Members of the House of Representatives and 
     Senate do not use electronic mail or World Wide Web sites;
       Whereas an increase in the usage and knowledge by Members 
     of the Internet will lead to better policy decisions 
     regarding the Internet and better communications with the 
     Internet community: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) Congress should educate itself about the Internet and 
     use the technology in personal, committee, and leadership 
     offices;
       (2) Congress should work in a bipartisan and bicameral 
     fashion to facilitate the growth and advancement of the 
     Internet;
       (3) Congress should maximize the openness of and 
     participation in government by the people via the Internet so 
     that our constituents can have more information from and more 
     access to their elected representatives;
       (4) Congress should promote commerce and free flow of 
     information on the Internet;
       (5) Congress should advance the United States' world 
     leadership in the digital world by avoiding the passage of 
     laws that stifle innovation and increase regulation of the 
     Internet; and
       (6) Congress should work with the Internet community to 
     receive its input on the issues affecting the Internet that 
     come before Congress.

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, today I am submitting a senate 
concurrent resolution along with an identical concurrent resolution to 
be submitted in the other body.
  Yesterday, Wednesday, June 12, the committee I am proud to chair, the 
Senate Commerce Committee, held a subcommittee hearing on the vital 
importance of making strong encryption available so that future 
electronic services will come into being. Indeed, the very future of 
the Internet hangs in the balance with respect to the availability of 
strong encryption. But at that hearing, I noted that I'm an industrial 
age man trying to make sense of the current information age we now find 
ourselves in. I'm an industrial age legislator making decisions about 
information age issues.
  This, of course, describes almost everyone else in the Senate and in 
the House, so at least I am not alone. But it is this dynamic, where 
industrial age legislators are making information age decisions, that 
has caused us to found the Congressional Internet Caucus.
  We all know that the Internet will change beyond all imagining the 
way

[[Page S6245]]

we will all work and play. Already, tens of millions of Americans are 
using the Internet to communicate and to conduct important business. 
Cyberspace has even become important in politics, where it is now a 
vital tool in many areas.
  Congress has to be computer and Internet literate if we are to be a 
Congress for the 21st century. This is why we have founded the 
Congressional Internet Caucus. It is our intention to try to help to 
provide for our other congressional colleagues navigation tools with 
which to find their way across the information landscape.
  And that is why today we, the founding members of the Internet 
Caucus, are introducing this joint concurrent resolution on the 
Internet in both the House and the Senate today.
  This House and Senate concurrent resolution urges our colleagues to 
get on-line and use the Net. It calls on Members of Congress to develop 
a better personnel understanding of the Net and how it operates. And, 
finally, it calls on Congress to start to use the Net in order to 
better communicate with the voters of this country.
  The Internet and other information technology issues will only grow 
in importance as time goes by. Congress will be seeing more and more 
issues coming before it involving these new information technologies. 
We'd better be prepared.
  This concurrent resolution is a good beginning step in that 
direction.

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