WPCi 2KBV[Z#|]ok (TT)-]C7X!sX] P:+QXP03-29-96 01:45p Congressional/Senate Notes OTHER HALPERPROCTL -PRBdsoooooȟYddddQ?Q?Q?Q?zddddzzzzlosddldsoooYYYdddllllzzQsQsQBQsow?RzzdȧYY~\~\Ny7yd;YUUooC03-29-96 01:45p Congressional/Senate Notes OTHER HALPERPROCTL -"5@^!#/CCdb((4QHhHH@,Q,Q%,,,,57,CM`J`J`J`J`Jj`;`C`C`C`C6*6*6*6*mQhChChChCmQmQmQmQ^H`JhMhChC^HhCYM`J`J`J`;`;`;`C`C`ChHhHhhHhHoQoQ6M6M6,6MJhOY*Y7mQmQhCo`;`;T>T>NQ%QC';99J^J-(ooJ,bbQo,44J##CC4,,t,IIIIQPP!5MQ$n_Bjn99fffXsICR`M`FVB`IJIOP:R:\MfF`Ij\f\T_SPddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd%'4JJom,,CQ%,%%JJJJJJJJJJ%%QQQ;b```h`Yho6JhY~mhYh`TYm`^^Q,Q,QC,JJ;MC,HQ*'O*wQCMJ;>4QHhHH@,Q,QdddJ4CC,T#dddd44QJ,>#odd^%'JJQ^QC,b-9Q,bC5I,,,MQ%,,(9ooo;```````````6666hmhhhhhQhmmmm^YMJJJJJJj;CCCC****CQCCCCCICQQQQHM-]C7X!sX] P:+QXPh>,%Xv> P:+QP]8(!XEh8 P:+QhPdow\bewigm\other\2g N-X01Í ÍX01Í/Í/  @-  -@Њ- APPENDIX ă  N- SENATE FLOOR STATEMENTS ON 8 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE BILL  Nv- REGARDING UNIVERSAL SERVICE lv- N-ԍxSource: 142 Cong. Rec. S 687718 (daily ed. Feb. 1, 1996).lփ  N1- Mr. Pressler : Xx` ` For the small town hospital, it will mean telemedicine, new devices and investment, where a large hospital can partner with a small hospital in research.(# Xx` ` For the small business located in a smaller town, it will mean that a small businessman there will be on an equal footing with a bigger businessman in an urban center in terms of access to research and the ability to partner.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` Another area that it will help our country is jobs. This is the biggest jobs bill ever to pass this Congress. It will result in a creation of thousands of jobs, good jobs, goodpaying jobs across our country. 142 Cong. Rec. S687.(#  N- Mr. Hollings : Xx` ` The need to protect and advance universal service is one of the fundamental concerns of the conferees in drafting this conference agreement. Universal service must be guaranteed; the world's best telephone system must continue to grow and develop, and we must attempt to ensure the widest availability of telephone service.(# Xx` ` The conference agreement retains the provision in the Senate bill that requires all telecommunications carriers to contribute to universal service. A FederalState joint board will define universal service, and this definition will evolve over time as technologies change so that consumers have access to the best possible services. Special provisions in the legislation address universal service in rural areas to guarantee that harm  NQ%-to universal service is avoided there. Id., at S 688.(# ":&y0*0*0*o'"Ԍ N- Mr. Dorgan : Xx` ` The conference report contains a bulk of the key rural provisions that are designed to protect rural areas. One provision will maintain the universal service system which ensures that rural and high cost areas will continue to receive affordable phone services. This issue is of enormous importance to those of us from small States.(# Xx` ` We have always felt that way about telephone service. A telephone in the smallest city in North Dakota or the smallest town in North Dakota is as important as a telephone in lower Manhattan in New York because one makes the other more valuable. The lack of universal opportunity and universal communications services is very troublesome. That is why we have a universal service fund. This conference report protects that and does  N -so in a meaningful way. Id., at S 690.(#  N- Mr. Stevens : Xx` ` We have worked many years now to bring us to this day, where we could literally say that we are ready now to take the telecommunications industry of the United States into the 21st century.(# Xx` ` In doing so, we have been careful to recognize that there are places in the country that have not been totally served by the existing telephone and information communications system. This bill has extensive universal service concepts. It has specific provisions regarding telecommunications services for health care providers, education providers, education and secondary schools.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` I come from a State, Mr. President, onefifth the size of the United States. It is rural in nature. We have a small population. We have people in our State who are just now getting telephone service as known to the rest of the country for the whole century, almost. Now, what we have assured here, as this program goes forward, is that universal service will be available to rural areas. It will be the stateoftheart telecommunications system. It means that telemedicine will now come to my State.(# Xx` ` My State, when I first came here, had no assistance whatever for people in small villages. They had to find their way to Indian hospitals in regional areas. We created a system of clinics. Those clinics are, by and large, operated by young women from the villages who have a high school education and some technical training now. This bill means"#'0*((P(" telecommunications will bring telemedicine in. They will be able to have a direct exposure of patients to doctors miles and miles away. They will be able to get assistance in dealing with mothers who have complications in pregnancies.(# Xx` ` This bill, above all the things I have dealt with in particular universal service, eligible telecommunications carriers, and rate integration, opens the whole horizon of telecommunications to the people of this country, and it does so on a fair basis. It has been criticized by some, but the universal service provisions that I mentioned when I first started my comments here, I think are the most important to me. They mean that rural America will come into the 21st century with everyone else as far as  N -telecommunications is concerned. Id., at S 69192.(#  N -  Mr. Burns : Xx` ` The report also protects the continuation of universal service, an essential feature, especially for rural areas where competition will be slow  Nb-to evolve. Id., at S 700.(#  N4- Mr. Wellstone : Xx` ` This bill also represents so much for our country. I can imagine workers in rural Minnesota telecommuting to and from work as far away as New York or Washington without ever having to leave their homes or families. As a teacher the possibilities really excite me schoolchildren in Minneapolis reading the latest publications at the Library of Congress via thin glowing fiber cables or rural health care providers on the iron range consulting with the top medical researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to better treat their patients. All of this is before us.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` The conferees maintained some very important Senate provisions, including language to keep telecommunication rates low for schools and hospitals. This will help to ensure that our communication technologies are affordable for future generations. I was proud to support this provision  N!-when opponents tried to strip this provision in the Senate. Id., at S 700.(#  N#- Mr. Domenici : Xx` ` The Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1996 will provide consumers with more choices and lower prices in long distance phone service and television programming. And it will do so in a way that"#'0*((P(" protects rural customers: This legislation explicitly preserves the universal  N-service fund which subsidizes telephone services to rural areas. Id., at S703.(#  N- Ms. Snowe : Xx` ` Mr. President, this conference report will bring unprecedented competition and development to the telecommunications industry. And while competition can bring an array of improved services at a lower cost, we must ensure that competition ultimately achieves that goal for all Americans, in both urban and rural areas.(# Xx` ` I am, therefore, particularly pleased that the conference report before us recognizes that strong universal service provisions are a necessary and important part of telecommunications reform.(# Xx` ` Residents of rural areas should bear no more cost for essential telecommunications services than residents of densely populated areas. Just as extending basic telephone service and electrification to rural areas rose to the top of our national agenda in the 1930's and 1940's, so telecommunications must be a top priority today. No American citizen should be left out of the communications revolution.(# Xx` ` Indeed, the concept of universal service was established in the 1934 Communication Act, to establish widely available basic telephone service at reasonable rates. The rationale for this policy is that telephone service is essential to link Americans together, so that all Americans can communicate with each other on approximately equal footing. It was an important economic development tool, as well.(# Xx` ` Everyone in our country must be able to engage in commerce using the tools and technologies necessary to interact with buyers and sellers, and be able to be informed and to inform others of emergency situations and to access emergency services.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` Unfortunately, there is a widening gap between the high expectations of an increasingly technologically driven society and the inability of most schools particularly rural schools to prepare students adequately for the hightechnology future. Almost 90 percent of kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms lack even basic access to telephone service.(# ":&0*((`'"ԌXx` ` Telecommunications can help us provide a world class education to children across America. If we want young people to actively use the technology of the future so it becomes second nature to them, then we must ensure that schools are part of the national information infrastructure.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` Rural schools and libraries usually pay more for access to information services than schools and libraries in urban areas because the information service providers do not have access points in local calling regions, meaning that rural schools and libraries must make a long distance telephone call to access the Internet and other information services. It is imperative that access the information superhighway be affordable, because America's schools and public libraries operate on very slim, inflexible budgets.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` Mr. President, I believe that the SnoweRockefeller provision is fundamentally important to assuring that we do not end up with a two tiered telecommunications system in America.(# Xx` ` The SnoweRockefeller provision is fundamental to assuring that all areas in America have access to the essential telecommunications services of the future. And it is fundamental to ensuring that this legislation provides  N-a solid foundation for the future. Id., at S 70809(#  N- Mr. Daschle : Xx` ` While the legislation focuses on competition and deregulation, the conference report contains essential rural safeguards in the form of universal service provisions that will benefit our rural communities and greatly increase their ability to preserve in the 21st century.(# Xx` ` There is little doubt that our urban areas can and will sustain the enormous expansion of telecommunications services in the years ahead. We must make certain that our rural areas are not left behind as services expand and new products come on line. In the long run, universal service at high standards nationwide is in the best interests of the entire economy.(# Xx` ` I believe that telecommunications reform is essential in preserving the economic vitality of rural America and am optimistic that the affordable accessibility to these new telecommunications services will be the harbinger for a new renaissance among the main street economies in communities throughout rural America.(#"#'0*((P("ԌXx` ` Already, many in my home State of South Dakota are beginning to realize the importance and value of telecommunications services. Many small, rural medical clinics and hospitals are linking together with larger, more urban hospitals via telemedicine to provide their citizens with a higher quality of care. Children in schools that are hundreds of miles from the nearest population center can now have access to the world's greatest libraries at their fingertips. An increasing number of South Dakota agricultural producers are determining weather forecasts and market reports with a simple keystroke. And all across main street South Dakota, small businesses are reducing their overhead via networking services, reducing their paper work through electronic mail, and saving thousands of dollars a year in travel expenses through their use of teleconferencing.(# Xx` ` And all of this is just the beginning. As these technologies continue to develop, the playing field for economic development will begin to level. South Dakota is already enjoying the benefits of advanced telecommunications and they can only stand to benefit from further  Ny-telecommunications reform. Id., at S 709.(#  NK- Mr. Kerry : Xx` ` I am also pleased the conference report includes three amendments which I sponsored.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` The third amendment will make sure that as we build the information highway, the builders do not bypass poor rural or urban communities. When interstate highways were built through cities across our Nation, often times they went directly through poor neighborhoods. Construction of the technology interstate system must not be allowed to detour around children and families in the same or similar areas who already face enormous challenges. My amendment is designed to assure that the telecommunications network will reach every neighborhood, offering access to those who need it most for a decent education, to upgrade  N-their job skills or to connect them to medical help they need. Id., at S 710.(#  N!- Mr. Harkin : Xx` ` However, we must also recognize that telecommunications competition is limited in some areas, especially in many rural areas. The high cost of providing telecommunications to rural areas is prohibitive for most telecommunications service providers without some incentive. The":&0*((`'" 1934 communications bill understood this and adopted a principle called universal service, which was thankfully maintained and updated in S. 652.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` Without universal service protections, advance telecommunications will blow right by rural America creating a society of information haves and have nots. S.652 recognizes that the definition of universal service is evolving as the technology changes. S. 652 requires the FCC to establish a FederalState joint board to recommend rules to reform the universal service system. The Joint Board will base its policies on principles which understands that access to quality, advanced telecommunications services should be provided to all Americans at a reasonable cost.(# x` ` . . . . Xx` ` The information superhighway must be available and affordable to  Ny-all Americans through schools and libraries. Id., at S 713.(#  NK- Mr. Exon : Xx` ` Mr. President, this legislation also represents a major victory for rural America. The conference report gives approval to the socalled farmteam provisions. These provisions assure that rural citizens enjoy telephone technologies and prices which are comparable to those in urban areas. The provisions also allow rural phone companies to pool resources with each other and with cable companies to share new technologies and to give states the power to prevent unfair cherrypicking competition in rural markets. (# x` ` . . . . x Xx` ` The provisions also give the Federal and State regulators flexibility in dealing with small and midsized phone companies. Too often, onesizedfitsall regulation needlessly pushes up costs for Nebraska's home town  N-phone companies. Id., at S 718.(# "#'0*((P("Ԍ h>ԙ#> P:+QvP##1252380