[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      THE 1996 TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT: BLUNTED BY THE BUREAUCRACY

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                             HON. TOM DeLAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 1998

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the biggest problem with the 1996 
Telecommunications Act isn't the way it was drafted, it's the way the 
bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have decided 
to implement it.
  Much of what the FCC has done has been reversed on appeal by the 
courts, or pulled back for reconsideration by the FCC itself. The law 
has been good for Washington lawyers and economists. It has been great 
for the paper industry. But from the public's standpoint, the new law 
hasn't delivered on its promises.
  Maybe our basic mistake was to place an independent regulatory agency 
in charge of trying to promote competition. If Congress had relied on 
the Washington bureaucracy, instead of the marketplace, to foster 
competition in the airline, surface transportation, energy or banking 
fields, we would still be waiting for true competition in those areas.
  You don't need 3 years in law school to figure out that Congress 
expected results. Throughout the 1996 Act, Congress imposed 90-day 
deadlines on the FCC to act. Why would Congress establish deadlines 
like that if the result were no long distance applications accepted by 
the FCC?
  The FCC has new leadership today. Four of the five FCC Commissioners 
are new. It seems to me that the agency's approach over the past 2 
years has been wrong. They need to try a different approach.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't have any magic solutions. Coming up with 
solutions, after all, is why we have a FCC. Congress and the American 
public didn't support communications reform just to help the Washington 
lawyers. Something needs to be done, and soon.

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