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from: Technology Daily

Last-Minute Lobbying Intensifies On Telecom Overhaul Legislation

By David Hatch

(Tuesday, September 19) Supporters and opponents of deregulatory telecommunications legislation are engaging in last-minute lobbying efforts to block, pass or alter the measure before Congress adjourns.

The Senate version of the House-passed measure, H.R. 5252, faces what many observers say are slim prospects this year because its author, Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has yet to garner the 60 votes he needs to limit floor debate.

But with billions of dollars on the line, no side is taking any chances: Proponents this week are stepping up efforts to secure passage while critics ratchet up opposition.

The Senate Commerce Committee report accompanying the bill, circulated in August, will be issued this week, a panel staffer said. But the aide said floor consideration "is up to the leadership, and we're still talking with them."

While there have been rumblings that Stevens, former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is seeking to use spending bills or other measures as vehicles, the staffer claimed not to be aware of these efforts. "I think we're in very good shape," the aide said of the legislation's chances.

On Tuesday, 101 manufacturers of fiber-optic lines and other equipment for high-speed Internet networks asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to schedule a floor vote.

"It is our hope that the full Senate will approve this legislation in the very near future," the companies urged in a letter.

They also expressed opposition to adding stringent Internet regulations -- so-called network neutrality provisions -- to the measure, arguing that to do so would unintentionally dissuade broadband investment.

The signers of the letter include 3M, Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Motorola and Qualcomm.

The letter surfaced days after 41 state attorneys general urged Congress to oppose provisions in the bill that would pre-empt state regulation of wireless phone services and Internet telephony.

"These provisions will hurt consumers by seeking to pre-empt states from enacting and enforcing specific state consumer-protection laws," they warned in a letter dated last Thursday.

The assertion that consumer needs would be satisfied more effectively under the Senate legislation "is not supported by the facts," the attorneys general wrote.

Meanwhile, a Republican polling firm -- Public Opinion Strategies -- and a Democratic polling firm -- The Glover Park Group -- jointly held a press briefing Monday in the Senate Commerce hearing room to tout the results of a Verizon Communications-funded survey.

The pollsters found that respondents overwhelmingly supported the Senate's plan to create nationwide video franchises and its largely deregulatory approach to Internet regulation -- positions strongly backed by Verizon, which is lobbying heavily for passage. Verizon paid $60,000 for the analysis.

Critics argued that the poll results should be discounted because they reflect only one side. "You get what you pay for," said Craig Aaron, a spokesman for Free Press -- an advocacy group opposed to Stevens' bill.