Stevens Worries About Timeline on USF-ADA Issue
Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Mon. he fears federal funding for school internet services, rural telephone service and library computers could be threatened temporarily. Stevens said a tight calendar could keep Congress from fixing problems the Anti-Deficiency Act creates for the Universal Service Fund, in turn suspending USF payments.
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Last year, Congress passed a law exempting USF from ADA for a year. There’s enthusiasm for making that exemption permanent, but time is short and ADA and USF come under different committees, complicating the process. The dilemma was the focus of a hearing Mon. on a bill (S- 241) that would set the exemption in stone. Sens. Snowe (R-Me.) and Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) are S-241’s lead sponsors; Stevens and Senate Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Inouye (D-Hawaii) are co-sponsors.
Rockefeller chided OMB for “refusing” to attend the hearing. OMB said last year that ADA applies to USF funds, requiring they be collected before they can be allocated. “I find it highly inappropriate to have the administration object to our bill without the courtesy of telling Congress why,” Rockefeller said. Snowe said if S- 241 doesn’t pass, residential and business telephone fees would rise and schools and libraries would lose E-rate funding that underwrites Internet access. “The ideal of ensuring Universal Service is as relevant today as when it was first conceived almost one hundred years ago -- this bill is a necessary step in ensuring that this vital policy remains intact in the 21st century,” Snowe said.
Stevens pressed witnesses -- including representatives of the FCC, the Universal Service Administrative Company, and the Govt. Accountability Office -- on how to solve the problem, such as FCC actions that wouldn’t involve legislation. Witnesses said one idea would be to change the commitment letters to E-rate recipients to “soften” the commitment. But Austin Schlick, acting FCC gen. counsel, said nothing short of legislation could keep ADA from applying to USF. Brian Talbott, USAC chmn., said USF would have to be shut down temporarily to let funds accumulate if ADA requirements are applied.