The Senate Commerce Committee recommended the Spectrum Act (S-911) for...
The Senate Commerce Committee recommended the Spectrum Act (S-911) for inclusion in legislation by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Congressional committee recommendations to the super committee were due Friday. Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey…
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Hutchison, R-Texas, said that S-911 “provides significant short-term and long-term benefits to our Nation’s fiscal health, economic and job growth, and public safety.” The bill, which would authorize voluntary incentive auctions and reallocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to raise $6.5 billion for deficit reduction. But Rockefeller and Hutchison said in their letter that they would work with the super committee “on possible ways to amend S. 911 to provide $10 billion in deficit reduction, without compromising rural build out for public safety officials.” House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on Thursday similarly urged the super committee to authorize spectrum auctions and reallocate the D-block (CD Oct 14 p12). That committee’s chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., is a member of the super committee and has said he doesn’t plan to submit Commerce Committee recommendations. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., also urged D-block reallocation and a national public safety network in his committee’s recommendations. King said his HR-607 “represents the type of balanced approach that the Joint Select Committee should actively pursue, one that combines an immediate public safety initiative with good governance cost savings."