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PRESIDENT CLINTON SIGNS THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996
February 8, 1996
President Clinton today will sign the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the
Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress -- one of the nation's premier
information centers and educational resources. The bill is a significant step
towards achieving the President's objective, outlined in his State of the Union
Address, to connect America's classrooms and libraries to the Internet by the
year 2002. In his remarks, the President will also talk about another important
challenge issued in his State of the Union -- the challenge to parents to take
responsibility for their children's lives. He will emphasize the importance of
the V-Chip or Violence Chip legislation, which allows parents to decide what
programs are too violent or inappropriate for their children.
During the ceremony, President Clinton will use two historically significant
pens to sign the legislation. The first is the pen President Eisenhower used
to sign into law the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, legislation which was
sponsored by Senator Albert Gore, Sr. The Highway Act, which created the
nation's vast interstate highway system, is in many ways analogous to the
Telecommunications Act which will help to develop the nation's information
superhighway. The second is an electronic pen, which the President will use to
sign the act into law on a digital tablet to be sent into cyberspace.
In addition, the Vice President will interact electronically with
Washington, D.C. students who will demonstrate how they use technology in the
classroom. The students from Calvin Coolidge High School will communicate with
the Vice President over a high-speed fiber optic network.
The audience at the ceremony will include educators, industry executives,
representative of various children's organizations, Members of Congress, Cabinet
Secretaries, public interest group representatives, and various state and local
officials.
The following is a program for the event:
- Secretary Brown will open the program
- The Vice President will make remarks
- The Vice President participates in interactive presentation
- The President makes remarks
- Speaker Newt Gingrich makes remarks
- Representative Thomas Bliley Jr. makes remarks
- Representative John Dingell makes remarks
- Senator Ernest Hollings makes remarks
- Senator Larrry Pressler makes remarks
- Secretary Ron Brown
- James Billington, Librarian of Congress, makes closing remarks
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