Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., planned to introduce his spectrum bill...
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., planned to introduce his spectrum bill Thursday night or Friday, before the Senate left for August recess, a Senate staffer told us Thursday. The Senate Commerce Committee chairman may have a hearing on the bill and…
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public safety issues in September, the staffer said. Rockefeller had a long meeting with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Tuesday, and the senator felt they saw “eye to eye on various issues,” the staffer said. Rockefeller has divulged little about the bill since he announced it last month (CD July 22 p1), except that it would authorize voluntary auctions and give the D-block to public safety. At the FCC meeting Thursday, Genachowski declined to say whether the FCC will delay action on a proposed order for the 700 MHz D-block in light of the Rockefeller bill. “Sen. Rockefeller and I agree very strongly on what the goal here is, which is to get a mobile broadband public safety network built for first responders in the U.S. that’s interoperable,” he said. “We proposed a path to get there in the National Broadband Plan. Sen. Rockefeller has a different path.” Finding a way to pay for the network remains the biggest challenge, Genachowski said. “We continue to work with Sen. Rockefeller and other members of Congress to figure out how we get from here to there as quickly as possible.”