The Senate voted today, 97-0, to approve S. 2097, the Launching Our Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000, which sets out a framework for federal loan guarantees to ensure that local television service is available in rural and remote areas of the United States.

Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, made the following statement:

"I'm proud of this bill. We will have to go to conference with the House, where my goal will be to stay true to the two principles we set out in the bill.

"Number one, we want to try to enhance the chances that people who live in rural America, especially in isolated areas, can receive their local television signals.

"Second, we want to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money. We want to guarantee to the best of our ability that not only will the loans be made, but that they'll be paid back. It doesn't do us any good to make bad loans. Bad loans don't produce local TV signals. Bad loans simply cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars and do no good."