This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu BOB DOLE: A VISION FOR THE INFORMATION AGE Whether it was helping create the biotech industry or leading the way to the telecommunications revolution, few can match Senator Dole's record in forward thinking and spurring innovation. Our nation now stands on the threshold of a new era. While some see our power diminishing, Senator Dole sees it growing. He knows the Information Age can make America stronger than ever. A hundred and fifty years of leadership in the communications field gives us the right to lay claim to this future and Senator Dole has spent his entire Senate career putting America in a position where she can do just that. 1995 SENATOR DOLE PLAYS CENTRAL ROLE IN WRITING AND PASSING THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT SINCE 1934. Perhaps the single most important economic legislation that the Senate will pass in generations. It will create good jobs, improve our quality of life, and enhance our competiveness abroad. There is no question that this single, but diverse, industry holds the key to America's economic future. In addition, Senator Dole had overwhelming support for his amendments that brought sweeping deregulation to all major sectors of the telecommunications industry. Senator Dole knew that there will be an explosion in innovation and job creation when government restrictions are torn down -- there is no better example of this truth than the Bayh-Dole Act that is discussed below. 1994 SENATOR DOLE CREDITED FOR KILLING REGULATORY TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL. Dole led effort to make the bill more deregulatory and more competitive. He knew full well that if it was passed unchanged, America's future would be jeopardized. It made no sense to shackle the only American industry that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the world. 1992 LED SENATE-EFFORT TO INTRODUCE COMPETITION, NOT REGULATION, INTO THE CABLE INDUSTRY. Senator Dole has consistently believed that competition, not regulation, is the best market regulator. While this effort failed, the Senate would embrace Senator Dole's vision of competition and deregulation less than three years later. 1986 FEDERAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY ACT OF 1986. Senator Dole wrote the first Congressional effort to reestablish telecommunications policy after the Courts' break-up of AT&T. The measure's intent was to consolidate all telecommunications policy in the FCC and by that reestablish Congressional jurisdiction over this matter. 1980 BAYH-DOLE ACT. This act is credited for helping create the Biotech industry -- one of our nation's fastest growing, most innovative, and most lucrative industries today. Prior to the law's enactment, most inventions funded with federal research dollars never saw the light of day. The reason -- it was next to impossible for the private sector to secure the right from the federal government to bring these inventions to market. This act solved this problem by giving research universities and businesses licensing rights to the products they helped develop. s-leg_433_028_007_A1b.pdf Page 1 of 2 This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu 1971 RURAL TELEPHONE BANK. Along with Bob Poage, Senator Dole was one of the principle authors of legislation which made capital available to extend phone service to rural America. This bank helped ensure that rural America was not cut off from an Information Age still in its infancy. Amazingly, there has not one been loan default in the Bank's 33-year history. First introduced RTB legislation (S. 2202) in 1969. s-leg_433_028_007_A1b.pdf ARPage 2 of 2