[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES H. TAYLOR

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 1998

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. It would give me great pleasure to be 
able to stand before the American people today and cheer the second 
anniversary of the signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
  Unfortunately, there is nothing to cheer about. The sound that 
American consumers hear is the sound of a busy signal.
  In the two years since the Telecommunications Act was signed into 
law, the American people have been promised a new era of competition 
and lower phone rates. Well ladies and gentlemen, the American people 
are still on hold.
  Instead of receiving lower phone rates, they have received thousands 
of pages of new regulations and they have witnessed jurisdictional 
squabbles and federal court appeals. They have gotten the stingy 
judgment of regulators and bureaucrats instead of the prosperous 
judgment of the marketplace. This is not what Congress intended when we 
passed this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, on this important anniversary, I call on the Federal 
Communications Commission to loosen the shackles on telecommunications 
competition.
  It is time for the Federal Communications Commission to trade in its 
approach of confrontation and punishment, for one that celebrates 
cooperation and competition.
  Let us unleash the markets and allow hard-working, tax-paying 
American people to receive the benefits of the new era of competition 
they were promised by Congress and the President.
  Come on FCC, drop a dime and reach out and touch the American people.

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