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Note: more recent news indicates the COPE Bill won't be introduced to the full House until the week of May 10th

Telecom Bill Likely to Hit House Floor Next Week
National Journal, April 27, 2006
By Drew Clark

The telecommunications legislation approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Wednesday is likely headed for a House floor vote around the middle of next week, aides to Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. said.

The bill — sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas — would most likely reach the House floor next Thursday, May 4. That timetable presumes House parliamentarians will rule against an expected effort by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., to seek a referral of the bill to his panel.

Granting a referral to the Judiciary Committee likely would delay a floor vote. But most congressional and industry sources say the Judiciary panel will not get a chance to consider the bill: Barton has been cautious in rejecting amendments and drafting text so as to avoid having the measure fall within the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction.

“We are going to review the final bill that came out of Barton’s committee on Monday,” Judiciary spokesman Terry Shawn said. The Energy and Commerce report on the measure is likely to be released this coming Monday.

Energy and Commerce spokesman Terry Lane said, “I am hopeful that the House floor will pick it up soon.”

Congressional sources said it was nearly certain that Sensenbrenner would seek a referral. , R-Wis., would seek a referral.

Sensenbrenner “has been very assertive about the committee taking a role in telecom issues generally and in preserving and promoting telecom competition” one Judiciary Committee aide said last week, while contending, “The committee has a historic and continuing role in promoting competition.”

If the Judiciary Committee is denied a referral, the key question for the House Rules Committee — which controls the ground rules for debate on the House floor — is whether to allow a vote on the contentious issue of network neutrality, according to several sources.

Network neutrality has emerged as one of the key points of dispute between the industry sectors.

Cable operators and the regional Bell operating companies oppose requirements on how they sell Internet service. On the other hand, technology companies — bolstered by public interest groups — have urged a non-discrimination rule for high-speed Internet traffic.

In the past few days, many technology industry lobbyists have been taking sides on whether to support quick passage of Barton’s bill.

The basic bill would allow the Bell companies to quickly enter the national market for pay-television service. It was approved Wednesday on a 42-12 vote.

Many of the votes on amendments during the session followed partisan lines. Republicans defeated Democratic amendments that would have required stronger anti-discrimination rules for Bells that obtain national video franchises, or which would have imposed network neutrality on Bell and cable companies.

“We would like to get the populace engaged, and the issue on which the populace is engaged is network neutrality,” said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge — which is playing a lead role in pushing for neutrality rules. Technology companies such as Amazon.com, eBay, Intel and Microsoft also support the net neutrality rules.

House leaders “are not giving the momentum we have built up a chance to build up,” Brodsky said. “The real question is whether there will be an up-or-down floor vote on network neutrality.”