Congress Taking Up Several Internet Matters in September as Elections Near
Cybersecurity and universal broadband service are among issues expected to get Congressional attention when members return from recess next month, Hill and industry officials said. But with elections in early November, Congress is quickly running out of time to finish pending legislation on those and other matters. “The final few weeks will mostly be about laying the groundwork for a busy 2010-11 in areas like … privacy and broadband regulation,” said Concept Capital analyst Paul Gallant.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Congress will have only four weeks in session before leaving again in October. It probably will focus on issues likely to impact elections this November, like taxes and energy, said Gallant. The Senate is scheduled to return from recess Sept. 13; the House plans to return the next day. The Senate plans to adjourn again Oct. 11, and then come back for a lame-duck session Nov. 15-19, and Nov. 29 to the end of the year, said an Aug. 4 e-mail from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The House plans to adjourn Oct. 8, but telecom industry officials said a lame-duck session is likely there as well.
Internet accessibility legislation is close to being wrapped up. The House and Senate have passed similar bills but must still reconcile differences before a bill moves to the president’s desk. “We understand that the House will act” on the Senate bill when it returns in September, said Jenifer Simpson, a senior director for the American Association of People with Disabilities. Because the Senate bill looks more like the House version “than ever before, we don’t think there is going to be a conference,” she said.
A markup on Universal Service Fund legislation in the House Communications Subcommittee also may occur, possibly the first week back, a wireline industry official said. Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said in July that his USF bill was on the “front burner,” and he hoped to “make the best” of September to move it forward.
Senate leaders are also targeting cybersecurity legislation for September. Staffers for Reid and the sponsors of major cybersecurity bills, Rockefeller and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have been in negotiations this month to craft a combined bill (WID August 16 p4). “The committees are working in a bipartisan manner and are making progress,” a Reid spokeswoman said Tuesday.