It’s an insanely busy time on Capitol Hill while members rush to get out of town for mid-term campaigning as the legislative clock ticks down. The Barton Bill (or Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006, otherwise known as the COPE bill) is headed for some kind of action tomorrow and a floor vote on Friday — the crush is now on to get that thing decorated like a Christmas tree with amendments. (Here’s the two-page list of proposed amendments published by the Rules Committee.)
Net neutrality, of course, is the hottest issue surrounding the bill given the legislation’s relatively mild (critics say toothless) net neutrality provisions. A group of Democratic members led by Ed Markey (D-MA) have this net neutrality amendment they hope to attach to the COPE bill. It’s the same as the amendment Markey tried to affix to the full Commerce Committee’s bill with two exceptions: a specific exception for telemedicine services (along with emergency communications) and an “antitrust savings clause,” which, in an obvious nod to the Judiciary Committee, says that nothing in the bill will impair the applicability of antitrust laws to net neutrality situations.
Possible Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has also joined the net neutrality brigade. He sent out an email this afternoon to urge his supporters to sign MoveOn.org’s petition favoring net neutrality given the impending House vote. He starts out the letter “When MoveOn and The Christian Coalition agree about something, it’s a good bet they’re right.” I’m no so sure I buy that logic. (Thanks Gary!)
Meanwhile, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) introduced two amendments that would force build-out requirements on new video entrants. I haven’t studied them closely but they look the same as the defeated amendments Solis proposed during Committee mark-up.
The Rules Committee is meeting this evening to decide which amendments make the grade and in what order they will be considered (an important factor given how limited time will be).
Cynthia Brumfield at 5:35 PM|Comments(0)
Blogs We Read
