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From: Defend Your Voice

ACTION ALERT - UPDATE ON H.5252 COPE ACT
House Rules Committee Sticks It To US!
We got hosed!

Its bad enough that the House Rules Committee did not allow the Baldwin/Wilson "Do No Harm" Amendment to even be presented on the House Floor for a vote, but to add insult to injury they did allow an Amendment by Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas which, if passed, cuts PEG/I-Net funding from 1% to 0.5% if the video provider is a minority or woman owned business.

Last update: Monday, June 12
HR 5252-COPE passes by a margin of 321-101
Nearly all Republicans and a majority of the Democrats voted for the Resolution and the interests of their corporate patrons, the telephone companies. The net neutrality amendment was defeated and was excluded from this bill. The final resolution with the attached amendments is not just bad - it's ridiculously bad. We can only hope the Senate will act with greater integrity, truthfulness and foresight.

Note: The Baldwin/Wilson Amendment (Do No Harm) which would have protected PEG centers receiving more than 1% in local franchises was voted DOWN by the Rules Committee. This makes COPE unacceptable to PEG Centers nationwide.

from: National Journal
CongressDaily

'Net Neutrality' Question To Get House Floor Vote

Update from SavetheInternet.com

Dear Coalition Member,

Here's a quick update on the SavetheInternet.com Coalition.

*VOTES IN WASHINGTON*

*Summary:*
This week there will be a pair of important votes on Net Neutrality. The first occurs Wednesday afternoon during a back-room meeting of the House Rules Committee. Rules will decide whether to allow the full House to vote on pro-Net Neutrality legislation later this week. If Rules allows Net Neutrality to the floor, a second vote could occur as early as Thursday evening, when every House representative has a chance to vote on the issue as an amendment to the COPE Act.

from: All HipHop

Rappers Can't Save You - The Death Of The Internet
Bruce Dixon of Black Commentator

America’s Black misleadership class, which is nearly indistinguishable from its Black business class, has struck again. In a stunning coup, a mainline African American voting rights group has been enlisted on the side of AT&T and other telecom monopolies in their legislative push to privatize the Internet and roll back hundreds of agreements with local communities that force these monopolies to extend Internet and cable service to poor and rural communities around the country.

from: The Hill

Telecom group spends big to raise industry profile

By Jim Snyder

The lobbying expenditures of the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) have risen almost as fast as the TVs that soar through roofs in the group’s ubiquitous ad campaign.

Five years ago, USTA spent just over $2 million on lobbying. By last year that figure had risen to nearly $17 million, making the group the sixth biggest spender on K Street and a major contributor to a revival of telecom and high-tech lobbying.

Email & Call Congress! | Tell Your Friends!
The House schedule lists a vote on the COPE bill (HR.5252) as early as Wednesday, June 7, though most observers think Friday is the day. If you haven't written and called Congress - this would be a good time. Be sure to tell your Congress person to vote NO - and tell them to stay around long enough to actually cast the vote - most typically leave Washington before Friday! Everything you need to take action is here. More updates below from the Alliance for Community Media and NATOA.

from: Broadcasting and Cable

Markey, Dingell Plan Build-Out Amendment

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/6/2006 3:01:00 PM

Dubbing the issue "universal service," some top Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats have told their colleagues they plan to introduce an amendment establishing build-out requirements in the House video franchise reform bill, scheduled for a floor vote this Friday, June 9.

from: Multichannel news

Esser Sermonizes on Franchise Reform
By Karen Brown6/6/2006 5:58:00 PM

Chicago -- Cox Communications Inc. president Pat Esser turned his podium into a pulpit at the Globalcomm telecom convention here Tuesday, delivering a stern sermonlike keynote accusing Bell competitors of trying to gain a regulatory free pass into video to make up for their own delays in developing those services.

With the COPE vote bearing down this week, the astroturf groups are busy sprouting plastic dandelion blooms. Consumers for Cable Choice, which has been pushing their deceptive marketing campaign since last June, today claimed to have sent a petition to Congress on behalf of one million Americans. This is pretty creative math for an organization with 1200 individual supporters and 71 organizations. Apparently they tally up all the members of each organization and count them as petition signatories too (with Women Impacting Public Policy providing a whopping 505,000 count alone). One wonders if the same people behind C4CC also counted votes in Ohio and Florida.