IP Democracy: CBO: Telecom Bill Price Tag is $5.2 Billion

In an another blow to passage of telecom reform legislation this session, the Congressional Budget Office has released an estimate of how much the bill would cost. The price tag is a healthy $5.2 billion. As the National Journal’s David Hatch points out, this level of costs, which would contribute to the budget deficit, would make the Senate bill subject to another hurdle to getting the bill passed, a point of order that requires 60 votes to overcome.

However, at the same time that costs would rise, primarily due to expanded universal service payments for broadband deployment and caps in the amount of money local governments can raise in franchise fees, revenues would rise by $5.0 billion. Still, there would be a deficit — plus, CBO estimates an additional outlay of $175 million on top of the deficit.

Meanwhile, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said that while the telecom bill won’t pass before Congress recesses to campaign for the November elections, it’s possible that the telecom reform bill could pass during the “lame-duck” session following the elections.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on September 21, 2006 8:24 AM to IP Democracy