IP Democracy: Rocky Legislative Road Ahead for Broadband Providers

After an intense spring and early summer, Congress is in recess and the dust is settling on the telecom reform legislation that passed the House and has made its way through the Senate Commerce Committee. The scorecards are being tallied, with the early handicapping in favor of broadband providers.

Business Week’s Roger Crockett has this piece today entitled “Senate Scorecard: AT&T 1, Google 0,” which recaps the status of the legislation, with a particular focus on net neutrality.

Crockett is right on target when he says that it’s going to be very, very difficult to get a bill out this session.

A long, tough road remains in the battle over control of content riding over the Internet. The Senate committee vote has to be approved by a majority of the full body, and then reconciled with a draft of the bill in the House of Representatives. And it all has to be accomplished in a short legislative session interrupted by holiday breaks and the approaching November elections.

Moreover, overlooked in all the press reports and blog posts and carryings-on about the Senate bill is the fact that only one person in the Senate can kill this legislation through filibuster unless sponsor Ted Stevens (R-AK) can convince 60 Senators to end debate on it.

Full passage would require Stevens to get 60 votes on his side to end debate on the Senate floor. But Stevens has stated that he does not have the necessary 60 votes. And, “the chairman is not going to bring it to the full Senate until he’s confident that we have the 60 votes,” says Matthew Flanigan, president of TIA, a trade group of telecom equipment suppliers.

In the meantime, Google has indicated that if in fact the bill passes without strong net neutrality protections, it will corral its resources for a big antitrust fight.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on July 5, 2006 9:45 AM to IP Democracy