Super Committee Failure Not Seen as End for Spectrum Bill
Congress could still find a way to pass spectrum legislation this year without the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, telecom industry lobbyists said. The super committee’s co-chairs said late Monday that the panel had failed to reach a deal. The House and Senate have signaled that they hope to push spectrum auction legislation forward in December through regular order or by attaching it to a must-pass vehicle like an omnibus appropriations bill. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he'll press to get spectrum legislation passed. “Winning ideas like S.911 cannot keep falling victim to this partisan stubbornness,” he said Monday evening. “I will continue to pursue all avenues to get S.911 enacted this year."
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The House Commerce Committee is signaling it will move quickly on spectrum through the regular process, now that it’s clear the super committee has failed, multiple telecom industry lobbyists said. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said again last week that he hoped to move spectrum by year-end. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week that there will be an omnibus and a tax extenders bill, and both could use revenue that spectrum auctions would bring (CD Nov 16 p1). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and other supporters of reallocating the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, have said they'll support any route that gets spectrum legislation to the finish line. Senators are looking at all possible vehicles for spectrum, a telecom industry lobbyist said.
The House and Senate are “not that far apart” on spectrum legislation, a telecom industry lobbyist said. With Democrats planning to offer a D-block reallocation amendment and support from some Republicans expected, it’s possible that one of the most divisive issues will become moot. If D-block isn’t an issue and lawmakers work out an agreement on unlicensed spectrum, the House and Senate could come up with a deal and find a vehicle to pass the package this year, the lobbyist said.
But some doubt spectrum will make the omnibus. “To do so, the legislation would have to overcome a number of budgetary, procedural, and jurisdictional hurdles,” said Wireless Broadband Coalition Executive Director David Taylor. “For example, spectrum legislation is not part of either the House or Senate-passed versions of the Appropriations measures in conference. As a result, it would be outside the scope of an Omnibus Appropriations conference.” Senators will have to be procedurally “creative” to attach spectrum to an appropriations bill, and it only takes one objection to scuttle the maneuver, a broadcast industry lobbyist said. A telecom industry lobbyist countered that there is precedent for including spectrum auction authority in appropriations bills.
Congress could leave for the winter holidays as early as Dec. 17 because the deadline to pass a continuing resolution is Dec. 16, Taylor said. But another telecom lobbyist said to expect Congress to stay later because there are still a number of “big-ticket” items pending that require votes, including FCC and other nominations.
"Moving a stand-alone incentive auction bill this session of Congress is highly problematic,” said Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeff Silva. “However, one possibility is incentive auction legislation could be kept alive to pay for extension of unemployment benefits, renewal of a payroll tax cut or some other initiative(s) on which Democrats and Republicans might be able to find common ground.” But even under those scenarios, the bill “could be scuttled if broadcasters do not like how the bill is crafted.”