DTV Bill To Be Subsumed in Budget Bill
A scaled-back DTV provision setting a hard transition date of Jan. 1, 2009, and authorizing spectrum auction authority will be part of the budget bill to be voted on in mid-Sept., Hill sources say. The budget vote is expected to be close, due to discord over President Bush’s tax cuts -- the budget resolution passed 52-47 in the Senate and 214-211 in the House. Should it not pass, Congress would enact a continuing resolution with a specific time frame to keep the budget operating at the same level as the previous year until a new budget is approved, sources say.
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The Jan. 1, 2009, deadline is based on CBO guidance, according to a House staffer familiar with the legislation. Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R- Alaska) has indicated his bill will set a Jan. 1, 2009, date (CD June 7 p1). A discussion draft proposed by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) suggests a Dec. 31, 2008, date, as does Sen. McCain’s proposed DTV bill (CD June 15 p1).
The DTV provision is a major revenue-generating tool for the Senate Commerce Committee, which is directed under the budget resolution to raise $4.8 billion during FY 2006-2010. In the same period, the House Commerce Committee must cut -- or raise -- $14.7 billion. On the House side, estimates are that about $10 billion would be cut from the Medicaid program under a plan that “slows growth,” rather than eliminating services, a House staffer said. Spectrum auctions are expected to yield at least $10 billion.
The budget bill is likely to include a “modest” subsidy to help pay for set-top converter boxes for analog TV owners, Hill sources said. Estimates range from $500 million to $1 billion, but funding is unlikely to go higher, since the budget process limits the extent of funding. The McCain DTV bill, for instance, earmarks $463 million in tuner subsidies for low-income families, plus another $5 million to the FCC to administer that program. That’s equal to about 9 million converter boxes, based on a GAO estimate of $50 per box. “It [the subsidy] will be used to get swing votes for people on the fence,” a House staffer said. While most Democrats and some Republicans back a more robust subsidy program, the budget vehicle caps spending on the effort, the staffer said. “They'll do something so they say they have something, but it won’t really address the problem,” he said. And voting on the budget is expected to be a straight party-line process, further complicating the situation, sources said.
After the budget passes, the committees may try to work on “mop-up” DTV bills addressing technical matters such as must-carry and implementation of a subsidy program, Hill sources said. But those more complicated issues are unlikely to be resolved and incorporated into bills that make it through committee and onto the floor for votes this Congress, given the looming battle over Supreme Court nominees expected to capture Congress’ attention in Sept.