Iowa has the largest number of local exchange telephone companies in the nation. Grassley last year joined Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota in introducing legislation to preserve the tax- exempt status of telephone cooperatives and to fight the IRS decision to treat billing and collection revenues as non-member income.
"Rural Americans deserve access to the same benefits of state-of-the-art telecommunication services, at a reasonable cost, as those enjoyed by their urban neighbors," Grassley said. "Modern communications technology is key to expanding job opportunities and improving the delivery of social, education and health care services."
Grassley has taken an active interest in rural telephone concerns for many years. He helped secure the rural telephone safeguards that were ultimately included in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. And he worked to win approval for infrastructure sharing language in the Act.
NTCA is a non-profit association representing 500 locally-owned and controlled telecommunications cooperatives and commercial companies throughout rural and small town America. The association provides its members with legislative, regulatory and industry representation; meetings; and publications; as well as educational and employee benefit programs.