WASHINGTON-Well, the game is over and the fat lady has sung. But who won and what does it mean for the wireless telecommunications industry?
The easy answer is that nothing has changed really. Indeed, since Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.)-ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee-won his tough race, the leadership of telecommunications legislative bodies is expected to stay the same.
Of course, in Monday morning quarterbacking and politics, nothing is ever easy and entirely clear.
Telecom constants
Hollings’ victory is perhaps the most significant because he is the leading Senate Democrat on telecom policy making. He leads the Democrats on both the Senate Commerce Committee and the commerce, state, justice appropriations subcommittee. He also was seen as a major drafter of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Since members on both sides of the aisle and Capitol Hill have been talking about reforming the telecom reform act, Hollings’ opinion as to congressional intent will carry weight.
Closer to home, Hollings will be a key figure in the debate next year on enhanced 911 federal land antenna-siting legislation.
Hollings’ reservations about the bill’s liability protection for wireless carriers contributed to the measure’s demise in the waning weeks of Congress.
Without the pressure of re-election and reliance on lawyers for campaign dollars, Hollings may be more amenable to negotiating a deal with the bill’s co-author: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.).
This doesn’t mean the industry will have an easy time getting its pet piece of legislation passed. The industry still has to win over Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who returns to the Senate after beating a dairy farmer in his re-election bid.
Leahy is not likely to succumb to pressure from the industry to allow tower sitings without significant local control. Additionally, he has his own legislation to curb tower sitings by repealing Section 704 of the telecom act.
Leadership changes?
Because the Democrats were so successful-winning in places where they were expected to win and winning in places where they were expected to lose-the House of Representatives may be facing a grueling transition.
Republicans, who control both houses, had been expected to gain ground in both the House and the Senate. They didn’t. The balance of power in the Senate was a wash, remaining at 55-45.
In the House of Representatives, the Republicans actually lost ground, making their slim margin even slimmer. Although Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) pointed out that being in the majority (however slim) still means Republicans control the agenda through the committee process. It also means that the speaker may be looking for a new job.
If indeed the House Republicans-from all across the political spectrum-decide new leadership is needed, the speaker may be asked to step aside. The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, reported one Republican member as saying, “If we had picked up 30 seats they [the leadership] would have taken credit for everything. They have to take credit for this, too. I don’t care, anyway you slice it, it was a stinging rebuke of this leadership team and the do-nothing policy of the last two years.”
Though there is supposedly a non-aggression pact among House Republicans that would keep the Gingrich leadership team in place when GOP lawmakers vote the middle of next week, it is no secret Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.) and Rep. Steve Largent, a Commerce Committee member, appear interested in a shot at Gingrich’s post or leadership seats of House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and Conference Chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio).
The Tauzin factor
A leadership change could alter the telecom landscape because it is an open secret that Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, has been eyeing a leadership post. If Tauzin is successful, then Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) is certain to take over the reins of the telecom panel. Oxley was frozen out by Tauzin for this subcommittee chairmanship when Tauzin switched parties, even though Oxley had Republican seniority on the House Commerce Committee.
Using the Oxley-as-chairman scenario could be bad news for those wanting Congress to pass encryption-friendly legislation in the 106th Congress. Oxley, a former FBI agent, led the charge in the House Commerce Committee against encryption legislation. His attempts were thwarted by Tauzin.
On the other hand, a major roadblock in the 105th Congress to encryption legislation was removed with the retirement of Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.). Solomon chaired the House Rules Committee and refused to move legislation that did not contain domestic controls on encryption. This was, of course, an anathema to the high tech industry.
Bright spots
The bright spot for the wireless industry with the Democratic gains last week is there is less talk of impeachment. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was expected to release an abbreviated hearing schedule that could lead to a Judiciary Committee vote on impeachment before the end of the year.
If Hyde sticks to this schedule, the Judiciary Committee would be free to debate wireless issues like extending the grandfather date on the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. The grandfather date refers language in CALEA that requires the government to reimburse telecommunications carriers for CALEA-related upgrades to equipment in place before Jan. 1, 1995.
On the Senate side, the only “if” for the wireless industry appears to be the effectiveness of Commerce Committee Chairman McCain-a well-liked and respected maverick who is widely expected to run for the White House in 2000. A presidential bid would take his mind off of telecommunications policy. McCain, a strident deregulator who voted against the 1996 telecom act, said this year he wants reopen the act in 1999 .
Given McCain’s tight grip on telecom lawmaking, it is highly unlikely another lawmaker, or a group of them, could fill the void if the Arizona senator becomes immersed in presidential politics next year.
For the Federal Communications Commission, the return of McCain and Tauzin to Congress means more of the same in 1999: heavy oversight.
