Adam Bender

The Republican who may lead the House Commerce Committee next year said FCC regulations “are only further smothering the economy.” In a Washington Times op-ed piece Tuesday, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., urged congressional oversight of the FCC and other federal agencies next year. Upton has expressed interest in becoming the next Commerce Committee chairman, and some telecom industry officials say he’s the favorite. Current Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, must step down under GOP term-limit rules unless he gets a waiver from the Republican leadership.

Congress could move on spectrum legislation next year no matter which political party is in control, a telecom aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told a Law Seminars International conference Monday. A package of noncontroversial spectrum items could be attached to a reauthorization of the FCC’s auction authority, said the aide, Matthew Hussey. FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman urged Congress to quickly authorize incentive auctions to free up broadcaster spectrum.

Capitol Hill aides urged patience from those seeking a Telecom Act revamp by Congress. A rewrite will happen, but Congress doesn’t want to rush it, said Danny Sepulveda, senior adviser to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. Other priorities next year include wireless spectrum and oversight of the broadband stimulus program, aides told a panel discussion Tuesday by the Free State Foundation.

The FCC has made “a lot of progress” but still has “a lot of work to do” implementing the National Broadband Plan, Chairman Julius Genachowski told One Economy’s 10th anniversary gala Thursday night. One Economy gave Genachowski its Metcalfe Digital Opportunity Award, but Genachowski invited the commission’s broadband team up to the stage to accept the honor. FCC priorities include revamping the Universal Service Fund, setting up incentive auctions and recovering underused spectrum, “empowering” broadband consumers and promoting competition, and increasing broadband adoption, Genachowski said. “Broadband benefits our society more every day, while the cost of digital exclusion for those left behind skyrocket.” Government should focus on modernizing USF to support broadband, One Economy Chairman Rey Ramsey told reporters. “That money is going to help more than replace what NTIA” had been providing under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he said. It’s “doubtful” the next Congress will fund another broadband grant program, he said. Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen told the event the cable company plans to add 50 Digital Connector sites by year-end. The program, created with One Economy, teaches digital literacy to teens and young adults. Comcast expects the new sites to impart Internet skills to 1,500 young adults by December 2011, Cohen said.

NTIA could be faced with no money for oversight of its broadband stimulus program unless Congress acts in the lame-duck session starting in November. The agency, which administers the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), wants Congress to sort out the issue in the lame duck, an NTIA official said. One option under consideration is an appropriations process called “reprogramming,” wherein NTIA would repurpose existing funding from other programs that it runs, the official said.

Politics shouldn’t hold up creation of a Digital Literacy Corps similar to AmeriCorps to teach digital literacy skills, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a Broadband US TV webcast Thursday. The proposed program would require funding from Congress, but Clyburn expects bipartisan support, she said. Meanwhile, the FCC is eager to implement provisions of an accessibility bill to be signed into law Friday afternoon, said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Deputy Chief Karen Strauss.

The CALM Act “certainly is a candidate for consideration during the lame duck session,” a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told us Wednesday. “The CALM Act enjoys broad support both in Congress and among the public.” The bill would turn down the volume on TV ads to the level of regular programming. Last week, the Senate passed its version of the bill, S-2847, with an amendment (CD Oct 1 p10). The House passed its own version, HR-1084, last December, but now must pass the amended Senate bill. Among other pending telecom and media bills, the CALM Act may have the best shot of passage in the lame duck because it’s so far along in the process, said an industry official.

Tea Party gains in the November election would mean more opposition to the FCC from Congress on net neutrality and other regulations for industry, Tea Party supporters said. “Any change in the composition of the House and Senate is only going to exacerbate that friction between [FCC Chairman Julius] Genachowski and Congress,” said Wayne Brough, chief economist of FreedomWorks, a Tea-Party organizer in Washington. CompTel CEO Jerry James said competitive local exchange carriers are watching the Tea Party movement, “as well as other changes potentially resulting from the mid-term elections that may impact telecom policy going forwards.”

Civil rights groups want net neutrality to stay on Capitol Hill. The House’s failure to reach consensus on a net neutrality bill has led Congressional Democrats and some public interest groups to push the FCC to move forward with plans to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act (CD Sept 30 p9). But Friday, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the Alliance for Digital Equality (ADE) urged the FCC to let Congress finish its work when members return in November. While failing to cross the finish line, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., found more consensus than anyone before, MMTC President David Honig told reporters. That shows a legislative answer is “within our grasp,” he said. “The commission certainly ought to be respectful of Congress’s valiant effort to resolve this, and should give Congress some more time” to work out a deal in the lame duck session or early next year. Some legislators and observers doubt Congress can pass a net neutrality bill in the lame duck session (CD Sept 30 p1), but Honig was optimistic. It’s an important enough issue for Congress to act on, because uncertainty over the issue is hurting the telecom sector, which represents one-tenth of the nation’s gross national product, Honig said. And lame-duck sessions often produce bipartisanship since members have finished their campaigns, he said. The net neutrality fight has drained FCC resources, and a Hill answer would also free up the commission to work on minority issues and other critical matters, added Honig. ADE Chairman Julis Hollis also urged Hill action. “By calling for reclassification, fringe groups are simply out of touch with what our communities really need, and that’s jobs and investment,” he said. “We cannot allow them to hijack this debate, nor can we allow overregulation by the FCC to impede this goal. It is up to Congress to take the reins and continue moving forward to enforce policies that focus on the creation of jobs and increased employment through the deployment of affordable access.” It’s unlikely the FCC will schedule a net neutrality vote this year, even if Congress can’t break a stalemate over the issue, Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeff Silva wrote Friday. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski “will likely wait until a new Congress is seated and assess the reconstituted political landscape before making any major move on open Internet policy,” the analyst said. He believes Genachowski would rather find a compromise on net neutrality, and “preferably with bipartisan congressional guidance,” than move forward on reclassification.

Free Press didn’t support the House net neutrality proposal that Republicans scuttled Wednesday (CD Sept 30 p1), President Josh Silver said in an interview. The public interest group believed that “introduction risked relieving the FCC chairman” of his duty to reclassify broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act, and to make net neutrality rules, Silver said. Free Press is “relieved” that House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., now is urging the FCC to act, he said. If FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski doesn’t fulfill Waxman’s request, “he will face an avalanche of public pressure.” In an e-mail to the Open Internet Coalition (OIC) before Wednesday’s announcement that no bill would be introduced, Silver threatened to pull out of the coalition if it issued a news release supporting the Waxman bill. “Free Press cannot afford to be misconstrued as supporting a bill that strips FCC rulemaking authority, fails to sufficiently protect wireless, and forecloses the agency’s ability to enact key goals” of the National Broadband Plan, “such as USF and low-income broadband deployment,” Silver wrote. “While we have deep respect for all of those from our community who worked tirelessly over the past few weeks on this effort, we have a strong disagreement with the assessment of this legislation as a positive, both on the merits and on the strategy. I don’t think the benefits of an OIC” news conference “in support of a doomed bill is worth the cost, but that’s not my call.” In a statement Wednesday, Waxman thanked the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Consumers Union, Public Knowledge and the Center for Democracy & Technology, as well as AT&T, Verizon and NCTA, but not Free Press. The CFA praised the Waxman proposal. “Mr. Waxman’s bill would have created an important safety net to prevent the broadband Internet access landscape from being Balkanized by anti competitive pay walls and discriminatory technology barriers that block or degrade communications,” said Mark Cooper, the group’s research director.