December 6, 2004

Congress meets today and some lawmakers, public safety organizations, telecom companies and state regulators are pressuring members and senators to prevent E911, universal service and spectrum allocation from falling between the cracks.

The House of Representatives re-convenes this afternoon, primarily to do battle over intelligence reform legislation and correct an error in a previously approved funding bill.

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The Senate is set to convene tomorrow -- if the House gets its work done on the intelligence reform bill. The session won't last more than two or three days and lawmakers will be pressed to accomplish much in that time period.

The contentious intelligence reform measure likely will consume the majority of the House's time and probably block action on other legislation.

Hope remains, however, that some other measures, including a bill that incorporates new E911 funding procedures, universal service reform and spectrum relocation, will slip through.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton sent a letter signed by a ranging coalition of 56 telecom companies, business and state regulatory groups and public safety associations to Senate majority leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and minority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., urging their support of H.R. 5419.

The bill, passed by the House on Nov. 20, includes measures that would help coordinate funding for E911, provide the funding to relocate government users to more suitable spectrum and put some cost reforms into the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Signatories to the letter included a gamut of wireless companies, including Alltel, Cingular Wireless, CTIA, Motorola, Nextel Communications, Qualcomm, Sprint, T-Mobile USA and Western Wireless.

Verizon Communications, one of Verizon Wireless' parents, also signed on.

However, the bill has little chance of passing the Senate in the next two days, say Capitol Hill watchers. Political scuffles and hard-line stances on unrelated issues most likely will push the bill to the backburner, they say.

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The battle over intelligence reform will probably take up the majority of the truncated session's time.

Additionally, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R.-Ariz., is standing firm behind a boxing reform measure that Sen. Barton has been reluctant to allow through the Senate.

McCain is said to be holding up all other legislation until the boxing measure is passed. The stalemate probably won't be resolved in the next two days, observers say.

Source: Wireless Week

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