Democratics’ Request to Delay House Spectrum Markup Rebuffed

The markup is still on, a spokeswoman for the majority said. “After almost a year of hearings and extensive meetings, the committee looks forward to convening the markup tomorrow at 10 a.m.” The hearing is in Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

The committee’s Democrats signaled they don’t see yearend as a deadline for Congress to pass final spectrum legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that the Senate wouldn’t vote on its spectrum bill S-911 this year. A House Democratic aide said Reid’s announcement “gives Republicans and Democrats time to come to a bipartisan agreement and compromise on spectrum legislation."

"The new language moves us closer together on a key issue: the allocation of the D-block spectrum to public safety,” Waxman and Eshoo said. But they said three other areas are flawed. Democrats disagree with language on governance of the public safety network, the draft bill’s ban on allocating spectrum from incentive auctions for unlicensed use, and limits on the FCC’s ability to condition auctions. Democrats also asked why broadcasters would get $3 billion to cover relocation expenses, three times what the Congressional Budget Office estimates they'll need. “We do not understand why this broadcaster fund is so generous, especially when the new language provides just $5 billion for building the new public safety network.” The Democratic proposal, like the Senate’s S-911, gives $11 billion to public safety.

But the House GOP’s spectrum bill won praise from Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. “I'm very glad that the [committee] is placing a priority on providing our nation’s first responders with the spectrum they need to build a robust nationwide public safety wireless network,” Hutchison said Wednesday. “While there are some differences between our bills, I believe the House’s JOBS Act is complimentary [sic] to the bipartisan bill Chairman [Jay] Rockefeller [D-W.Va.,] and I have passed in the Senate Commerce Committee.” Hutchison said she'll work with the House “to incorporate their priorities into S. 911 so we can send a final spectrum bill to the President’s desk sometime this winter."

The issue of how the public safety network will be governed continues to divide Democrats and Republicans on the House Commerce Committee, Waxman and Eshoo said in the Wednesday letter. The GOP proposes that the states build the network, while Democrats would prefer a national nonprofit corporation. The National Governor’s Association, the National Association of Counties, the National League of the Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayor seek a national approach, Waxman and Eshoo said. The national body should include “significant” state and local representation, they said.

Democrats have accountability concerns about the Republicans’ proposal to give significant authority over the network’s deployment to a contracted private company, Waxman and Eshoo said. It could also cost taxpayers, they said. “Under the 800 MHz reconfiguration program, Sprint has been required to pay the costs of the contract with Deloitte, and they have been high,” the Democrats said. Deloitte has already been paid $140 million, three times what the administration says a nonprofit needs before becoming self-sustaining, they said.

"Spectrum auction legislation still has a better-than-even chance of passing Congress by mid-2012 -- and perhaps even in the coming weeks,” said Guggenheim analyst Paul Gallant. Walden’s support of D-block reallocation improves the chances of passage, Gallant said.

"We must not delay,” MobileFuture President Jonathan Spalter said in a letter Wednesday to Walden and Eshoo. “It will take as long as seven to 10 years to get repurposed spectrum into use for mobile broadband. Prompt legislative action to authorize incentive auctions will begin this long process.”