COMMERCE COMMITTEE RESCUES TOP PROGRAM FROM ELIMINATION The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today decisively turned back an attempt by Sen. John Sununu (R., N.H.) to effectively kill the Technologies Opportunities Program (TOP), which provides seed money for technology projects in low-income urban and rural areas. Sen. Sununu tried to attach an amendment to eliminate TOP to legislation reauthorizing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. But his amendment was rejected after some sharp words by committee members.
"We developed this program and there was a lot of needs in our states in the areas of telemedicine," Sen. Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) said. "I don't think there has been a program that's really ignited telemedicine to get the application of those technologies on the ground and being used like this Technologies Opportunities Program. . . . This has been a very successful program." Sen. Sununu said that while TOP had funded some useful projects and "there are a number of nice stories to tell" it was always meant to be a demonstration project, not a permanent program. He also noted that at 20% the administrative costs of the program were too high. "We are in a time of deficits," he said. "At a time of deficits we can allocate this money in a way that better reflects out country's priorities to the extent that we are concerned about first responders, . . . to the extent that we're focused on schools and libraries." Sen. Sununu told TRDaily he might look for other ways to kill the program, which had been targeted for elimination by the Bush administration. "It was a demonstration program. It was intended to serve as a demonstration for these kinds of initiatives and to highlight the opportunities, for the communities themselves and for the private sector, and for other areas where we're spending money on technology infrastructure, like in the Justice Department," he said in an interview. "The overhead is also a problem. Any program that has 20% overhead rate should be scrutinized," he added. "And the fact that it's never been authorized means it should probably go through its own set of hearings and an authorization rather than just appear on a reauthorization." The committee, meanwhile, voted unanimously to reauthorize NTIA as part of an ongoing project of Chairman John McCain (R., Ariz.) to "authorize" programs and agencies under the committee's jurisdiction. Sen. McCain noted that NTIA had not been authorized since 1992. But he said the vote should not be taken as a referendum on the Department of Commerce's proposal to merge the Technology Administration (TA), the NTIA, and the e-commerce policy functions of the International Trade Administration into a single agency. "I don't view that [vote] as sending any kind of message except that we have an obligation which we haven't been fulfilling, which is to authorize these programs," Sen. McCain told reporters. He said of the DoC proposal, "I don't think it has a great deal of chance, but we'll continue to negotiate and discuss." Previously he said he would hold a hearing on the plan if one was requested by Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans. A DoC source today said no decision had been made on whether to seek a hearing, but that if one was made the department would likely ask that Deputy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman represent the department. DoC, meanwhile, is lining up members of the House and Senate to introduce the proposal as legislation as early as September. - Howard Buskirk, [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
