Three Republican Senators and the General Accounting Office have charged that the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its bounds by establishing the Schools and Libraries Corporation to administer the universal-service telecommunications-discount program.
Senate Commerce Committee members Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) say Congress should have more oversight of the fund.
A GAO report requested by Stevens and released February 11 says the FCC "exceeded its authority when it directed the National Exchange Carriers Association to create" the SLC and the Rural Health Care Corporation.
"I fully support the goal of bringing advanced telecommunications services to schools and libraries," said McCain, "but as I have stated in the past, I don't believe that multimillion-dollar bureaucracies are necessary in order to accomplish this goal."
Vice-president Al Gore said February 26 that the Clinton administration would fight to preserve the program. He called the opposition "an effort to ration information and ration education," adding that "It would darken the future of some of our brightest students."