Changes in House, Senate leadership to reverberate through wireless policy: USF, consumer protection issues may be addressed

President-elect Barack Obama’s thematic “change” mantra has infiltrated Capitol Hill, with a shakeup in the leadership of key House and Senate committees likely to raise the profile and potency of consumer protection, open access and universal service issues for the wireless industry in the next Congress.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) unseated Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) for the chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee. Waxman leaves behind his post as head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee where he launched numerous investigations of government agencies and their enforcement of regulatory programs.
“I am honored by the vote of the Democratic Caucus,” Waxman stated. “We are at a unique moment and have an opportunity that comes only once in a generation. I will work with all parts of our caucus and across the aisle to deliver the change that the American public expects us to deliver. . I have worked with Chairman John Dingell for 34 years. He has been a true legislative champion. I will always admire and respect him and his many legislative accomplishments.”
Waxman, regarded as a close ally of fellow California liberal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recently introduced legislation to require telecom recipients of rural universal-service funds to provide automatic roaming on just and reasonable terms to wireless carriers. In addition, he played a key role in congressional passage of a bill to allow all mobile-phone operators to provide wireless service in the Washington, D.C., subway. GSM carriers, like AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA Inc., had been locked out previously under a subway contract with Verizon Wireless that allowed CDMA roaming to Sprint Nextel Corp. customers. Waxman’s oversight committee also investigated the relationship between Cyren Call Communications Corp. and the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. in advance of the 700 MHz auction that failed to attract a bidder for the national D-Block public safety/commercial license. The committee did not issue a findings, but a Federal Communications Commission probe cleared major stakeholders of any wrongdoing.
“Well, this was clearly a change year and I congratulate my colleague Henry Waxman on his success today,” Dingell said. “I will work closely with him on the issues facing the Energy and Commerce Committee and for a smooth transition.”
Waxman told reporters he will rely heavily on expertise of telecom and other subcommittees under his purview. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) served as telecom and Internet subcommittee chairman under Dingell. The Massachusetts lawmaker, a champion of consumer protection, privacy and net neutrality, is a good bet to remain chairman of the telecom subcommittee under Waxman’s reign. Chairmanships of House Commerce subcommittees will not be officially sorted out until late January, so Markey’s status will not become completely clear until then.
Senate changes
In the other chamber, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is in line to become the next chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee now that Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has moved from that post to head the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rockefeller have avoided stating what’s in store for the Senate Commerce Committee. The main reason is that two Senate races have not been settled. Once the winners emerge, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans on committees and pending chairmanships will be worked out.
Rockefeller is a co-sponsor with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on a cellphone consumer protection bill, legislation that would keep intact federal preemption. The mobile-phone industry wants Congress to eliminate limited state jurisdiction reserved to states in 1993 legislation. On a parallel front, the wireless industry has been fighting in recent years to convince the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt state regulation of early-termination fees. So far, the GOP-led FCC, chaired by Kevin Martin, has been unable craft a national ETF plan that satisfies consumer advocates and states’ rights proponents. A federal appeals court in 2006 threw out an FCC decision preempting state oversight of line items on wireless bills. The wireless industry’s federal preemption campaign – its top policy priority – could become more challenging in the Obama administration.
Elsewhere, Rockefeller and others have fought to prevent wireless carriers from bearing the brunt of efforts to reform the universal service fund – particularly regarding subsidies available to wireless companies for rural area deployments.
“We . believe a cap, especially one imposed on certain carriers, would not provide incentives to all stakeholders to engage in thoughtful negotiations on how to best reform the USF,” Rockefeller and fellow Senate Commerce Committee members stated in letter to the federal-state joint board on USF reform last year. “Although the cap is reported only to be a temporary cap, we are concerned that it would become a de facto permanent cap. Unless all recipients have an incentive to find solutions to controlling the growth of the USF, we do not believe that the joint board or the FCC would ever be able to adopt measures to reform and modernize the administration of the USF.”
It appears Rockefeller’s fears may well be realized as the FCC continues to pursue changes that would rein in rapid growth of rural USF subsidies. It could mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in government support for cellular carriers serving rural areas. It is unclear whether Martin can push through more USF reforms before he leaves office, giving wireless providers a glimmer of hope for a possible reprieve in the Obama administration.