Boehner Says House May Vote on Spectrum This Week
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, may add spectrum auction authority to a larger spending package that’s to be voted on this week on the House floor, a Boehner spokesman told us Friday. Boehner is discussing using spectrum as a “pay-for” for a payroll tax extension, the yearly pay correction for doctors serving Medicare patients and other items in the package, the spokesman said. If the spectrum proposal goes straight to the floor, it would skip a vote by the full Commerce Committee that had also been expected for this week. The House Communications Subcommittee approved draft spectrum legislation on Thursday (CD Dec 2 p1) amid objections by Democrats.
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"Since the spectrum bill raises revenue, it would be combined” with the spending items in the House package “to create a revenue neutral package,” a telecom industry lobbyist said. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that voluntary incentive auctions would raise $24.5 billion over ten years. It would not be the first time Congress has authorized spectrum auctions to pay for other spending measures. DTV transition legislation that authorized the 700 MHz auction was attached to a budget reconciliation bill to help offset additional Medicare spending, the lobbyist noted.
House Democrats had sought more time, not less, to ready the legislation for a vote. “We cannot rush on this important issue,” Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., told us Friday. “We must get the policy right, and it is my sincere hope that the Majority will work on a bi-partisan basis to address the outstanding issues in the current spectrum bill.” Thursday’s markup “demonstrated that much work remains to ensure spectrum legislation contains sound policy, including providing America’s first responders with maximum spectrum for the interoperability network they need and deserve, and setting up a strong governance structure,” Matsui said. “There are also substantial issues that must be worked out on unlicensed spectrum."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said earlier in the week that the Senate would not vote this year on the Spectrum Act (S-911) by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Reid’s office didn’t comment on the Boehner plan.
Public safety officials praised approval of the spectrum bill by the House Communications Subcommittee, despite raising concerns earlier in the week about the bill’s proposed level of funding for the network, a proposed giveback of narrowband 700 MHz spectrum and approach to governance of the network. Two years ago, “few believed that we would be able to convince lawmakers … to support D block allocation at all, let alone secure legislation that provides up to $6.5 billion in funding for a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network,” said Charles Dowd, deputy chief of the New York City Police Department and a member of the Public Safety Alliance, Friday.
CEA joined the industry chorus praising the subcommittee vote. “Bringing more spectrum to market in the form of voluntary incentive spectrum auctions would help reinvigorate our beleaguered economy and job market while addressing our nation’s looming spectrum crunch,” CEA President Gary Shapiro said Friday. CTIA and NAB celebrated the vote Thursday.
Not every group was happy with the GOP bill. The Wireless Innovation Alliance asked why the bill didn’t allow the FCC to set aside broadcast spectrum from incentive auctions for unlicensed use. The Rural Cellular Association asked why the bill doesn’t require interoperability on the 700 MHz band, and objected to proposed limits on FCC authority to condition auctions. The Coalition for Free TV and Broadband said the bill contained “no real protections” for low-power and translator stations. The Coalition also complained that the subcommittee didn’t include its plan to allow some broadcast stations to act as Internet backhaul providers for carriers (CD Nov 25 p7).
The bill, drafted by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., is “positive for the wireless industry in general,” but especially AT&T and Verizon, “as well as comforting to TV broadcasters wary of incentive auctions,” Stifel Nicolaus said in a note Thursday. “While Republicans can push their bill through full committee and the House, we expect further changes -- given Democratic control of the Senate, where a different version passed out of committee 21-4 -- and we believe final passage of spectrum legislation is likely next year.”