The House Communications Subcommittee is eying a series of hearings on the state of video competition next year, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., told Communications Daily. The Senate Commerce Committee is also expected to have a hearing on the subject, Hill and industry officials said. The hearings are spurred at least in part by legislation (HR-3675, S-2008) introduced this month by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., broadcast and telecom industry lobbyists said. But the DeMint-Scalise bill itself is unlikely to pass as written, they said.
A Senate investigation of the Lifeline program is being explored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Her Contracting Oversight Subcommittee “is taking preliminary steps to investigate” the Universal Service Fund low-income program but hasn’t opened a formal investigation yet, a McCaskill spokesman told us Tuesday. McCaskill is also “seeking a Government Accountability Office review and pursuing expanded reviews by the FCC Inspector General,” the senator wrote in a Dec. 9 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. McCaskill acknowledged that the FCC plans to soon issue a rule to tighten oversight of the program. But the pending order may not “fully address the scope of fraud, waste and abuse that may be occurring in Lifeline,” she wrote. McCaskill asked the FCC to provide information about the growth in the number of carriers participating in Lifeline since it was expanded to wireless, the amount of duplications and number of ineligible customers discovered by the FCC in the last three years, the number and extent of audits conducted by the FCC and internal processes the FCC has implemented to administer Lifeline and prevent problems.
The House GOP authors of spectrum legislation hope to negotiate the payroll tax cut extension with the Senate, but that could be tough because senators have largely returned to their states for a month-long break. After voting Tuesday to move to conference, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, named as conferees House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich. However, at our deadline, Senate and House Democrats still had not agreed to participate. Members of the Senate have already left for the holidays, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., refused Tuesday to call back his members. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also said she would not appoint conferees.
The fate of spectrum legislation remained in flux Monday as members of Congress continued to squabble over an extension of the payroll tax cut. Lobbyists consider the payroll bill the “last train out of town” this year for spectrum legislation. Spectrum reform was nearly left behind when the Senate agreed late Friday on a bipartisan basis to a two-month rather than year-long deal (CD Special Bulletin Dec. 17). But in a surprise move, House Republicans vowed to pull back the measure and lobbyists now view a two-month extension as dead in the water.
The House passed an omnibus appropriations bill including $340 million for the FCC for fiscal year 2012. It voted 296-121 to pass the measure Friday afternoon. The omnibus was the result of bipartisan negotiations, and the Senate was expected to approve the measure later Friday or early Saturday. Meanwhile, negotiations continued in the Senate on the payroll tax cut legislation that contains language authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. The Senate was expected to vote early Saturday, unless it reaches a deal sooner.
A bug in Carrier IQ software captured cellphone users’ SMS text messages, Carrier IQ said last week. By design, the software collects numbers dialed, URLs visited, and locations of dropped calls, among other things, it said in a letter released late Thursday to Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn. Carrier IQ and the carriers and handset makers that have admitted being Carrier IQ customers said the data collection software is a diagnostic tool that does not violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
It seems unlikely spectrum negotiations are finished between the House and Senate Commerce committees, despite frustrations voiced by each side, multiple telecom industry lobbyists said Thursday. But governance of the public safety network continues to divide the chambers, they said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., complained Wednesday that the House had halted talks on a spectrum deal (CD Dec 15 p1). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., responded that he’s waiting for the Senate to pass its own spectrum legislation. Congressional leaders said Thursday they were moving closer to agreement on a payroll tax cut bill, which has been used as a vehicle for spectrum legislation.
The House dropped a referendum on the FCC net neutrality order from its fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill. In a new appropriations omnibus bill introduced late Wednesday, the House also increased its proposal for funding the FCC to nearly $340 million. The package was apparently the result of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. The House hopes to vote on the package Friday, an Appropriations Committee spokeswoman said. To prevent a government shutdown, Congress must pass an appropriations bill or continuing resolution (CR) by Friday when the current CR expires.
The major area of disagreement remaining between the House and Senate on spectrum legislation is the governance structure for the national public safety network, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. Middle ground has been found on several other contentious issues, he told Communications Daily on Tuesday. The House was expected after our deadline to pass the original Walden spectrum legislation as part of a larger spending bill (HR-3630) to extend the payroll tax cut and other items. The bill’s spectrum language is expected to change later in the process to reflect bicameral talks.
Senate Democrats on Monday opened a hotline for FCC and FTC nominations, a Commerce Committee spokeswoman said. Hotlines are a means for assembling unanimous consent; one senator’s objection can derail the fast-track procedure. The hotline didn’t conclude before our deadline, and had not yet begun on the Republican side. As of Monday morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was still planning to place a hold, a spokeswoman said. Grassley does not object to the FCC nominees, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, but the senator has pledged to block their confirmations until the FCC gives him documents about communications among the commission, the White House and LightSquared investor Harbinger. The FTC nominations are for Maureen Ohlhausen and Jon Leibowitz.