THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

                         VICE PRESIDENT PROPOSES
                   NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM

     Bring the Information Revolution to Every Classroom, Hospital,
                                   and
             Library in the Nation By the End of the Century

          Los Angeles, CA--Citing the need to bring the economic,
     health, and educational benefits of the information
     revolution to all Americans, Vice President Al Gore, in a
     speech to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, today
     outlined the Clinton Administration's proposals to reform
     the communications marketplace.
     
          Gore challenged his audience to provide free links from
     the information superhighways to every classroom, library,
     hospital, and clinic in the country.  "You here today
     represent the companies that can do it," said the Vice
     President.  Following The Vice President's pledge during the
     30 minute speech, he stated the Administration's support for
     removing the legal and regulatory barriers that prevent
     telephone, cable and long distance companies from entering
     each others business.
     
          The Vice President recalled the dream of the interstate
     highway  system of his youth.  "Today," he explained, "we
     have a dream for a different kind of superhighway -- an
     information superhighway that can save lives, create jobs
     and give every American young and old, the chance for the
     best education available to anyone, anywhere." 
     
          The Vice President said the Clinton Administration's
     position grew out of the following five principles, which he
     outlined in a December speech at the National Press Club in
     Washington, D.C.:
     
          o    Encourage private investment
          o    Provide and protect competition
          o    Provide open access to the network
          o    Avoid creating information "haves and have nots"
          o    Encourage flexible and responsive government action
          
          In a much anticipated announcement, Gore presented a
     series of policy decisions that will "clear from the road
     the wreckage of outdated regulations and allow a free-
     flowing traffic of ideas and commerce for the benefit of all
     Americans."
          
          Specifically, Gore's proposal would allow telephone
     companies to get into the cable business, and let cable and
     other companies into the telephone business.
     
          To make such new ventures possible, the Administration
     will prevent states from imposing barriers to new companies
     entering the local phone business and will require local
     phone companies to make their facilities available to all
     comers without discrimination and to allow competitors to
     provide all kinds of telephone services the phone company
     provides now. 
          
          On the issue of the court decree governing the breakup
     of AT&T, Gore said he supported the effort by key
     Congressional chairmen to take the courts out of the phone
     business and provide a pathway by which the local phone
     companies can enter other lines of business -- like long
     distance service -- but including also electronic publishing
     and manufacturing.  Gore praised the work of Congressman
     John Dingell (D-MI) and Jack Brooks (D-TX) and pledged his
     support to work with them to enact a bill this year.
          
          Gore also recognized the work of his colleagues in the
     U.S. Senate; Senators Ernest Hollings (D-SC),Daniel
     Inouye(D-HI), and John Danforth (R-MO) and in the U.S. House
     of Representatives; Ed Markey (D-MA),and Jack Fields (D-TX). 
     "In many ways our legislative goals complement (their) work,
     said Gore.  "We expect to introduce our legislative package
     shortly, and to work with Congress to ensure its speedy
     passage."
     
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