The House Communications Subcommittee moved a step closer to wireless legislation, holding Wednesday what’s likely their last hearing in a series on spectrum. Subcommittee Democrats and Republicans supported authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., suggested additional incentives for broadcasters.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
The Senate Commerce Committee filed the bipartisan substitute amendment for the Senate spectrum bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. The 119-page amendment will be used as the base bill when the committee marks up S-911, a Senate aide said. The committee scheduled a June 8 markup, but no agenda has been announced, the aide said. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he supports the latest version of the bill. Committee Republicans met to discuss the bill Wednesday afternoon, a GOP aide said.
The House Appropriations Committee approved an agriculture bill for fiscal-year 2012 that includes a proposed cut of the RUS Broadband Loans program. The committee approved the bill by voice vote in a markup Tuesday evening. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., didn’t re-offer her amendment from the Agriculture Subcommittee markup (CD May 25 p4) that would have maintained some funding for the broadband program. Consideration of the bill by the full House will likely occur in mid-June, but the schedule is up to House leadership, a committee spokeswoman said.
The government may continue using roving wiretaps and other Patriot Act powers that were to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Late Thursday, President Barack Obama signed into law an extension until June 1, 2015, of the government spying powers. The law made no changes to surveillance, but Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced legislation Thursday based on his failed amendment to add privacy protections. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and privacy groups said they were disappointed the renewal had no new protections for U.S. citizens.
A bipartisan majority of House members support wireless tax legislation by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. The bill, which would ban for five year states from taxing wireless goods and services, secured its 218th cosponsor on Thursday. A similar bill in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has seven cosponsors not counting John Ensign, R-Nev., who has since resigned. Markup of the bill by the full House Judiciary Committee is expected soon, a House aide said.
There is “absolutely no redeeming reason” to allow AT&T to buy T-Mobile USA, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., said at a hearing Thursday of the Internet Subcommittee: “Not even one.” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, testifying at the hearing, also played defense to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who had strong concerns about how the deal would affect pricing of backhaul owned by AT&T and Verizon. Stephenson said the deal would create jobs and motivate AT&T to build out to rural areas.
In a setback for public safety communications legislation moving through Congress, key Republicans on the House Commerce Committee balked at proposals to reallocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety. Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., appeared skeptical at a hearing Wednesday of the House Communications Subcommittee about the approach supported by President Barack Obama, the Senate Commerce Committee and the House and Senate Homeland Security committees. House Commerce Democrats supported the reallocation bill (S-911) by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
The Senate shouldn’t “shirk its duty to reexamine carefully and critically” three Patriot Act sections expiring Friday, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. In a floor speech Tuesday, Leahy urged colleagues to support his amendment with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to S-1038 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The Reid bill would extend the provisions until June 2015, without making any changes to surveillance law, but the Leahy-Paul amendment would add privacy and other protections for U.S. citizens. “Without a single improvement or reform, without even a word that recognizes the importance of protecting the civil liberties and constitutional privacy rights of Americans, the underlying bill represents a missed opportunity,” Leahy said. Meanwhile, the Obama administration backed Reid’s bill. In a statement late Monday, the Office of Management and Budget said “it is essential to avoid any hiatus in these critical authorities.” The Senate on Monday agreed 74-8 to limit debate on a procedural motion to start debate on S-1038. The vote capped at 30 hours additional debate time on the motion. After the Senate vote on the motion, expected Tuesday night, there could be debate and votes on the Leahy amendment and others. That could be followed by another motion to limit debate, and then a final vote on the bill. The House is waiting for the Senate to pass its bill, said a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. In the meantime, the House Rules Committee voted to provide same-day consideration authority for a Patriot Act item, said a spokeswoman for Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif. “That means whenever we receive something from the Senate, it can be considered on the House floor on the same day it’s reported from the Rules Committee.” Usually, the House must wait one day, she said.
The House would cut the broadband loans program at the Rural Utilities Service under fiscal 2012 budget legislation moving through the Appropriations Committee. The panel’s Agriculture Subcommittee late Tuesday approved an agriculture bill that counts the RUS program among its cuts. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., slammed the proposed cut. USTelecom and the NTCA supported giving $22 million to the loans program under an amendment submitted by Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. At our deadline, the subcommittee voted not to adopt the Lummis amendment.
The FCC should protect GPS from possible interference by the LightSquared network, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., told us by written statement Tuesday. Shaheen signed a letter with 32 other senators asking the FCC to rescind the International Bureau’s waiver to LightSquared that allows the company to offer terrestrial-only service through retailers (CD May 24 p17). “GPS is a critical technology relied upon by millions of Americans; businesses in the aviation, agriculture, and construction industries; and the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation,” Shaheen said. “Interfering with its frequencies carries significant risks both for our economy and our public safety.” The FCC should “work with LightSquared and those parties concerned to resolve the issue fairly,” she said.