Barton Predicts Passage Of Narrow Telecom Bill By Heather Greenfield National Journal
Thursday, July 20, 2006 http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-OYUK1153768152185.html House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, told technology industry leaders that Congress can get a telecommunications bill done, but he predicted that lawmakers will produce a narrow bill. Pending Senate legislation is much broader than what the House passed. It includes provisions to strengthen and revamp the universal service program, which is aimed at ensuring that all Americans, particularly those in rural areas, have access to affordable telephone service. Speaking at the annual legislative strategy meeting of the Electronic Industries Alliance, Barton said he believes Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, will muster the votes needed for floor passage. "Stevens doesn't yet have the 60 votes" needed to limit debate on the legislation, Barton said, noting why the bill has yet to be passed. "When we get to conference, we will have some differences because the House (version) is a narrower bill," Barton said. One key difference that would require a compromise is universal service, which the House bill does not address at all. Universal service "was a great idea 100 years ago. It is not a good idea today," Barton said. "I understand the political necessity in the Senate. We'll have to have a meeting of the minds on that." One area where both Barton and Stevens do agree is network neutrality: They oppose it. Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, plan to offer an amendment that would block high-speed Internet firms from discriminating against different content providers. Barton told reporters "net regulation is dead." He said instead of making a law against discrimination, the FCC will be asked to monitor discrimination complaints. "That may not be perfect, but until we have more of a track record, that seems to be more of a middle-ground approach," Barton said. He told his audience, including members of the Telecommunications Industry Association, which has lobbied against net neutrality, that he does not understand the arguments for it. Supporters of net neutrality say that a broadband provider could relegate sites to a slow lane based on the message. Startup companies say larger, more established companies will get faster service, encouraging visitors to go to dominant Internet providers. But Barton said a big broadband provider would be discouraged against such actions because of competition. He said the purpose of the telecom bill is to give consumers more choices, including for cable television. Many areas just have one cable or broadband provider. Bill Plummer of Nokia disagreed with Barton's characterization of net neutrality as a battle between AT&T and Verizon, which oppose it, versus supporters Google, MoveOn and Yahoo. He said consumers are involved, too, and want to access the Internet like they do now -- except on various devices. Barton said it is conceivable that "AT&T can get a lock on high-end [customers] and create some sort of supermarket and then bully people. It happened in the past with U.S. Steel and Standard Oil." But he pledged strong oversight of such firms. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
