WASHINGTON-While President Clinton’s nomination of Greg Rohde to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration progressed toward Senate conformation last week, the White House’s reappointment of Democrat Susan Ness appears dead.
Rohde, a telecom aide to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), breezed through his confirmation hearing last Thursday before a handful of Senate Commerce Committee members.
Rohde, 39, has strong bipartisan support and is expected to be confirmed by the Senate before Congress adjourns this fall. Rohde would succeed Larry Irving as NTIA chief and likely become a strong voice for rural America in the government.
NTIA, a unit of the Commerce Department, advises the president on telecom policy and manages federal government spectrum. NTIA currently is under fire in the House by telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who is pushing an ambitious NTIA reform bill.
While the Senate Commerce Committee acted swiftly on Clinton’s Aug. 4 nomination of Rohde, the panel has not moved on the president’s July 1 reappointment of Ness.”We don’t have anything scheduled right now,” said Pia Pialorsi, a Senate Commerce Committee spokeswoman.
Ness, unlike Rohde, does not have strong bipartisan backing. That, combined with the prospect of a Republican presidential win in 2000, suggests the GOP likely will not take up Clinton’s nomination of Ness.
Rohde, under gentle questioning from lawmakers, told the Senate Commerce Committee last week he wants to improve federal spectrum management by better balancing national security, public safety and technological innovation. “I don’t want the agency just to say `no’ all the time [to military and other federal spectrum users],” said Rohde.
Congress in 1993 and 1997 ordered the surrender of 255 megahertz of federal government spectrum to the FCC for auction to the private sector. The legislation provoked a backlash that played out this summer in a bill to give the Pentagon spectrum priority rights.
After a fight between the wireless industry and Department of Defense authorizers on Capitol Hill, a compromise was struck to return 8 megahertz to the Pentagon. The deal also directed federal policy makers to conduct a study on spectrum needs of the military and intelligence community.
Rohde, noting 97 percent of all spectrum is shared between government and nongovernment users, said he would emphasize sharing and interference resolution in the future.
In other matters, Rohde defended the 1996 telecom act that he helped craft, but said there was room for improvement. “We have a long way to go before we declare the telecom act a complete success. But wonderful things are happening [with wireless and the Internet],” said Rohde.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), pressed Rohde on whether universal service had become a barrier to wireless competition in rural areas, perhaps alluding to Western Wireless Corp.’s struggle to provide alternative wireless local service in North Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada and other states under the FCC’s universal-service program.
“We need [universal-service] reform to help competition without hurting incumbents,” said Rohde.
