Reid Wants Stimulus Package to Stress Jobs, Spending
Proposals for the economic stimulus package should deal only with programs that create jobs and spend quickly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has told Congress. Reid hopes to get a package ready by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, and is encouraging committees to gather ideas from their areas of jurisdiction for inclusion for the Senate version of the bill, according to a recent memo. It listed energy, infrastructure, health care, education and protecting the “most vulnerable” as top priorities for the package.
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Telecom groups have filed many proposals with the transition team. Many recommend grants and tax incentives for infrastructure buildout that the groups say would create jobs. Free Press has proposed a $44 billion broadband wish list in one of the most ambitious plans presented to the transition team. It includes incentives for infrastructure buildout and sets a goal of building an all-fiber, 100 Mbps nationwide network.
The Communications Workers of America told Congress that every $5 billion invested in broadband infrastructure would create 100,000 jobs in technology business and 2.5 million jobs throughout the economy. The union cited a Commerce Department economic study. A CWA proposal has been endorsed by the Telecommunications Industry Association and Fiber-to- the-Home Council. The CTIA wants the incoming administration to promote wireless broadband investment. It filed papers with the transition team proposing that additional spectrum be allocated for mobile broadband services and that regulatory roadblocks to installation of towers and other wireless gear be removed.
The CTIA, like other telecom groups, suggests that the universal service program be used to support broadband deployment in rural areas. Public safety groups want the incoming administration to keep their needs in mind as broadband programs are hammered out for the stimulus package. The Public Safety Spectrum Trust wants the federal government to allocate $15 billion of the stimulus package to complete a nationwide 700 MHz shared wireless broadband network that would serve public safety needs and extend services to underserved parts of the country (see separate report in this issue).
The broadband provisions probably will include grants of $20-$25 billion for investment in new networks in unserved areas, said Cisco Technology Director Jeff Campbell. This will create many new jobs in the technology sector and blue collar areas, he said. The grants should be tied to services of at least a minimum speed, perhaps 10 Mbps, he said. The benefit of such a program is that it’s one-shot spending, he said.
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association suggests that policymakers consider providing emergency federal right-of-way rules to hasten broadband deployment. The incoming administration, or Congress, also should establish a national broadband transmission-speed goal that “evolves with consumer demand and technological advances,” the group said in a letter to Congress and the transition team. Zero-percent interest loans, grants, tax incentives or a combination should be targeted to unserved areas and prohibit duplication in a service area, the NTCA said. Support for government-owned networks should include the following conditions: giving private providers the right of first refusal to provide service; requiring a popular vote to build a network; and applying to government networks the responsibilities, regulations and rights of private carriers.
The Senate and House are working on legislation with the transition team, Hill offices said. The broadband proposals are largely under the jurisdiction of the congressional Commerce Committees, but tax and spending provisions will require involvement by the tax and appropriations committees, as lawmakers move closer to tallying up a spending package. Estimates of the total are $850 billion to $1 trillion.