Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 105 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 105 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 143 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1997 No. 148 Senate The Senate met at 11 a.m., and was U.S. SENATE, EXECUTIVE SESSION called to order by the Honorable PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, WAYNE ALLARD, a Senator from the Washington, DC, October 29, 1997. State of Colorado. To the Senate: Under the provisions of rule I, section 3, of NOMINATION OF WILLIAM E. the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby KENNARD, OF CALIFORNIA, TO PRAYER appoint the Honorable WAYNE ALLARD, a BE A MEMBER OF THE FEDERAL Senator from the State of Colorado, to per- COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John form the duties of the Chair. Ogilvie, offered the following prayer: STROM THURMOND, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Almighty God, You created us to President pro tempore. pore. Under the previous order, the praise You. Forgive us for the pride Mr. ALLARD thereupon assumed the Senate will now go into executive ses- that too frequently takes the place of chair as Acting President pro tempore. sion and proceed to the nomination of praise in our hearts. So often, we want William E. Kennard of California, to be adequate in our own strength, to f which the clerk will report. be loved by You because of our self- The assistant legislative clerk read generated goodness, and to be admired RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING the nomination of William E. Kennard, by people because of our superior per- MAJORITY LEADER of California, to be a member of the formance. Yet pride pollutes every- Federal Communications Commission. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- thing: It stunts our spiritual growth, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- pore. The able acting majority leader, creates tensions in our relationships, pore. The Senator from Montana. the Senator from Montana, is recog- and makes us people who are difficult Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise nized. for You to bless. Most important of all, today to oppose the nomination of Wil- our pride separates us from You, dear liam Kennard as Chairman of the Fed- Father. When pride reigns, life becomes f eral Communications Commission. bland, truth becomes relative, and val- Throughout the confirmation proc- ues become confused. We lose that SCHEDULE ess, I have taken a particular interest inner confidence of convictions rooted Mr. BURNS. This morning the Sen- in universal service. The ruling earlier in the Bible and Your revealed truth. ate will proceed to executive session to this year by the FCC to structure a Now in this quiet moment, we praise consider the nomination of William universal service fund from a 25-per- You for breaking the bubble of illusion Kennard to be a member of the Federal cent Federal contribution and a 75-per- that, with our own cleverness and cun- Communications Commission. I now cent State contribution has caused me ning, we can solve life’s problems. Help ask unanimous consent there be an ad- a lot of concern, along with many of us recover a sense of humor so we can ditional 10 minutes of debate equally my colleagues from rural States. laugh at ourselves for ever thinking we divided between the two leaders and, I do not believe that this ruling is could make it on our own. We humble further, the vote on the nomination consistent with the intent of Congress ourselves before You. Fill us with Your will occur at 12 o’clock noon today. in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. spirit. Now, with our minds planted on The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Such a rule could have severe impacts the Rock of Ages, we have the power to pore. Without objection, it is so or- on Montana and other rural States face the ambiguities of today with the dered. that are asked to make this contribu- absolutes of Your truth and guidance. Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, Members tion. Through our Lord and Saviour. Amen. can expect the first vote at 12 o’clock. In the process of determining the at- Following that vote, it is the two lead- titudes of the nominees, I have heard f ers’ intention for the Senate to turn to statements about a reliance on the his- consideration of H.R. 1119, the national torical split between States and the APPOINTMENT OF ACTING defense authorization conference re- Federal Government in the structure of PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE port, or the D.C. appropriations bill. this fund. However, in the case of Mon- The Senate may also begin consider- tana, which has not even had a uni- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ation of Senator COVERDELL’s legisla- versal service fund until it was enacted clerk will please read a communication tion dealing with education IRA’s. this year by the State legislature, we to the Senate from the President pro Subsequently, Members can antici- are on new territory, and history may tempore [Mr. THURMOND]. pate further rollcall votes throughout be different from present cir- The bill clerk read as follows: today’s session of the Senate. cumstances. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S11305 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 22:29 Oct 24, 2013 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\1997SENATE\S29OC7.REC S29OC7 mmaher on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with SOCIALSECURITY S11306 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 29, 1997 In rural States like Montana,the uni- the difficulties of rural life. In a State eral Manager Art Isley, with the fee based on versal service fund is absolutely crit- with 148,000 square miles and only the distance the signal travels. That cost ical to the provision of basic telephone about 850,000 people, we do not always simply gets passed on, he said. ‘‘It’s costing us an arm and a leg to get service. It should further be noted that have the luxury of face-to-face commu- that (Internet service) out,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t maintaining the universal availability nication that people have in highly get any breaks.’’ of telephone service at reasonable and populated areas, nor do we have the Communities that are served by US West affordable prices is not just a vague ability to shoulder the dispropor- such as Three Forks, Manhattan and Boze- goal but an explicit statutory mandate. tionate burden that would be placed on man don’t have to pay the cost of leasing the I ask how well has the FCC done in us by taking on 75 percent of the cost space on the system, Isley said. fulfilling this mandate? To answer this of universal service. It is the people of And because Harrison is so small, other question, it is helpful to look at the States like mine for whom universal Internet providers lack the incentive to com- pete with Three Rivers. record of the hearings which the Com- service is intended, and I do not want ‘‘If you have competition, the market is merce Committee held in September to see it dismantled. going to drive prices down,’’ McGee said. 1993, on the nomination of Reed Hundt In view of all of these facts, I must Larger communities have other tele- to be FCC Chairman. oppose Mr. Kennard’s nomination. communications advantages as well. Boze- In response to a question which I Mr. President, what we are faced man’s schools are linked to the Internet posed on universal service, Mr. Hundt with in Montana in this particular area through Montana State University, which said— is pointed up by an article that was in has its own access to the Net. While the uni- the Bozeman Daily Chronicle by Oliver versity system’s Internet structure is ex- Universal service is, and should be, one of pected to change in the next few years re- the paramount goals of the Government and Staley. I ask unanimous consent that sulting in additional costs for Bozeman’s specifically the FCC. article be printed in the RECORD. schools the low cost of service has allowed Mr. Hundt also characterized the ap- There being no objection, the article Bozeman’s schools to bring the Internet to propriate role of the FCC in response to was ordered to be printed in the thousands of students. another question. He said the FCC’s RECORD, as follows: ‘‘We’re getting an incredible deal right now,’’ said Christine Day, the district’s tech- mandate was, SOME SMALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS FIND GOOD nology services coordinator. INTERNET ACCESS TOO EXPENSIVE [T]o implement the will of Congress, as ex- Some small schools, however, have found pressed in legislation, [and that] to that end, (By Oliver Staley) ways to avoid paying huge fees for Internet the Commission’s policymaking activities HARRISON, MT.—The Internet may be the service. should take into account incentives and dis- wave of the future, but in the Harrison The Whitehall School District receives its incentives for private investment in the net- School District, it’s a wave Net surfers can’t Internet service free of charge from the Hel- work, and the creation and offering of serv- ride very far. ena-based Internections. In return, the ice. The tiny, 129-student school district has school district houses Internections’ equip- Mr. President, after reviewing the ac- just one computer linked to the Internet. ment, which allows it to provide local Inter- tivities of the FCC during the past 4 They have access for only 100 hours a month. net service to the rest of Whitehall.