Trade groups representing IT, telecom and Internet companies worry that financial industry revamp legislation being considered by Congress might be too broad and that some language in the House bill could significantly expand the FTC’s rulemaking authority, officials told us. But public interest groups supported expansion of FTC power under the House bill, which was absent from the Senate version.
Debate over the FCC’s authority to regulate the Internet heated up at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday on the National Broadband Plan. Republicans strongly opposed the FCC invoking Title II of the Communications Act if the commission loses an effort to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that it can regulate broadband under Title I. But Democrats seemed open to the possibility. Lawmakers from the two parties differed on plan details but praised the FCC for hard work and ambition. “Y'all have done as good as could be done,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the Commerce Committee’s ranking member.
House Democrats endorsed the FCC’s National Broadband Plan a day before its official release. House Republicans gave conditional praise, saying they're watching closely. In an interview, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said he believes legislation will be required to satisfy the plan’s recommendations to revamp the Universal Service Fund, build a public safety wireless network, and identify lightly used spectrum.
A “fundamental” recommendation of the National Broadband Plan will be creation of “partnerships” between the government and the private and nonprofit sectors to bring down the cost of computers and monthly broadband service for the poor and to provide free training and applications to help people access education and employment information online, said Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan Tuesday at the Digital Inclusion Summit, co-hosted by the FCC. “The government can’t do it alone,” Donovan said. Tuesday’s summit included four of the five FCC commissioners and members of Congress. It came a week before formal unveiling of the National Broadband Plan by the FCC. The Tuesday meeting was also hosted by the Knight Foundation.
House subcommittees dealing with privacy issues plan to review a draft comprehensive bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at their next hearing on the subject, said Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. At a hearing on location-based services Wednesday, Rush promised “our next hearing on privacy will be a legislative hearing.” Rules on location-based services will be part of the larger privacy bill, Boucher said. Republicans said they need to see the draft bill, and warned that any legislation must balance consumer privacy with industry innovation and public safety needs.
House subcommittees dealing with privacy issues plan to review a draft comprehensive bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at their next hearing on the subject, said Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. At a hearing on location-based services Wednesday, Rush promised “our next hearing on privacy will be a legislative hearing.” Rules on location-based services will be part of the larger privacy bill, Boucher said. Republicans said they need to see the draft bill, and warned that any legislation must balance consumer privacy with industry innovation and public safety needs.
Universal Service Fund legislation by Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Lee Terry, D-Neb., could win more urban support by integrating aspects of two other USF bills introduced by Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said industry officials. But some warned that a combination could simultaneously cost the support of current backers of the Boucher-Terry legislation. The urban legislators’ bills, proposing new E-Rate and Lifeline programs to spur broadband adoption, may be at odds with the cost-saving focus of the Boucher bill, they said.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced a bill Tuesday that would update the Universal Service Fund E-Rate program to increase broadband adoption. After the FCC releases its National Broadband Plan next month, it’s expected the House will take a close look at the Markey legislation, a bill on broadband affordability (HR-3646) by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and a long-gestating USF revamp bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., as possible ways to overhaul USF, said a House source. Markey’s E-Rate 2.0 Act (HR-4619), co-sponsored by Matsui and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., would direct the FCC to start three E-rate pilot programs. One would distribute vouchers to low-income students to buy residential broadband services, Markey said in the House Tuesday as he introduced the bill. The second would open a competitive grant program to provide funding for broadband equipment and services to “selected community colleges and head start facilities that best demonstrate need and incorporation of broadband use in their educational mission,” Markey said. The third would allow certain E-rate applicants serving “particularly low-income students to apply for significantly discounted services and technologies for the use of e-books,” he said. The bill would also increase the current $2.25 billion cap on E-Rate to adjust for inflation, and streamline the application process. NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow praised the bill as “proposing pragmatic steps that will enable students participating in the federal school lunch program to utilize broadband to improve their educational experience.”
Comcast and NBC Universal executives assured Congress joining forces won’t hurt consumers or competition. The companies faced the House Communications Subcommittee 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, and the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee beginning at 2:30 p.m. In the House, Democratic members expressed concerns about the deal’s effect on prices, competitors to Comcast and NBC, and network neutrality. Republicans generally showed more support for the deal, as was expected (CD Feb 4 p1). Senators from both parties raised red flags in the afternoon.
Policymakers must address “end-user equity issues” on the Internet while keeping the platform “open and accessible to everyone,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., at a Third Way lunch Tuesday. She backed ISP price models that would force heavy users to pay more. Later, Rep. Doris Matsui, D- Calif., said government must provide money to spur broadband adoption among low-income Americans.