House Rejection of Senate Payroll Tax Deal Puts Spectrum Back on Table
The fate of spectrum legislation remained in flux Monday as members of Congress continued to squabble over an extension of the payroll tax cut. Lobbyists consider the payroll bill the “last train out of town” this year for spectrum legislation. Spectrum reform was nearly left behind when the Senate agreed late Friday on a bipartisan basis to a two-month rather than year-long deal (CD Special Bulletin Dec. 17). But in a surprise move, House Republicans vowed to pull back the measure and lobbyists now view a two-month extension as dead in the water.
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The House was expected to vote Monday night to reject the Senate approach and ask for a conference with the Senate to negotiate a full-year deal that could authorize spectrum auctions. In a GOP memo that circulated among lobbyists, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., predicted the Senate’s two-month deal would fail in the House. While the payroll tax cut expires at the end of this year, the Senate responded that it would not return even if the House votes down the two-month extension. “I will not re-open negotiations until the House follows through and passes” the two-month extension “that was negotiated by Republican leaders, and supported by 90 percent of the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday.
Spectrum auctions will be back in play if Congress moves to a House-Senate conference committee to negotiate a full-year deal, multiple telecom industry lobbyists predicted. It’s still one of the least controversial “pay-for” options Congress has in its arsenal, so it’s likely to remain on the table in talks for a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut, said Jared Weaver, an Alpine Group lobbyist who works with the High Tech Spectrum Coalition. It’s unclear how the conference would resolve continued policy disagreements between the Democrats and Republicans over governance of the public safety network and other issues, another lobbyist noted.
It’s difficult to predict how quickly a conference would reach a deal. Two telecom industry lobbyists said they believe Reid is bluffing and that the House-Senate conference could open this week and close before month’s end. The Senate has recessed but not adjourned, and not every senator would have to return if there was a conference, they noted. But another lobbyist said that politically, Reid has every reason not to bring the Senate back this year and allow the payroll tax cut to expire, because Reid could then claim House Republicans needlessly raised taxes when they rejected a bipartisan deal from the Senate.
If Congress does not strike a deal by year end, it might not happen until at least February, a telecom industry lobbyist said. The House doesn’t return until Jan. 17, and has about two actual legislative days that month to work, while the Senate returns Jan. 23 and has one legislative day in January.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., was “deeply disappointed that measures to create a first responder communications network were not included in the larger year-end package,” he said Saturday. “Although we didn’t get this done within today’s agreement, I intend to push hard in the coming weeks to work out a suitable compromise with the House.” The extra time gives the House and Senate more time to resolve their issues, a Commerce Committee spokesman said: “There are a handful of unresolved issues relating to the structure, cost” and other issues. The committee didn’t comment Monday on the House’s expected rejection of the two-month deal.