NAB President Gordon Smith has a connection to the new...
NAB President Gordon Smith has a connection to the new staff director for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. The committee’s co-chairs -- Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas -- announced Tuesday that Mark Prater, Republican…
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deputy staff director and chief tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, will lead staff on the so-called “supercommittee.” Prater’s wife Lori worked for Smith from 2003 to 2008 in the Senate. Mark Prater himself has not focused specifically on telecommunications but has dealt with broader tax issues that affect telecom companies, a telecom lobbyist said. Last year, for example, he helped pass a bill with language removing wireless devices from IRS “listed property” rules, the lobbyist said. Prater also spoke about telecom tax issues at a 2004 summit hosted by USTelecom and Deloitte. The select committee is expected to consider spectrum auctions as it looks this fall for $1.5 trillion (CD Aug 11 p1) in budget cuts and revenue increases. The six Republicans on the select committee met Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The full group is expected to formally meet soon after Congress returns from recess Sept. 6. NAB didn’t respond to a request for comment.