Maybe it’s true, all this fuss about unlimited access at the White House. Access to spectrum, that is.
President Clinton last week proposed a school reconstruction initiative that would be paid for with $5 billion from auctioning TV channels 60-69.
Being president and all, does that mean he can butt in front of a line in which public broadcasting, public safety, commercial wireless and private wireless are standing.
Geez, it seems like only yesterday the administration was tapping into some other frequency band to pay for a college tuition tax credit.
From a public policy perspective, the two White House proposals are meritorious. Telecom policy-wise they’re irresponsible.
How can the administration promise to pay for these programs with spectrum monies in the midst of ongoing debates over digital TV and spectrum reform?
This is not say that TV broadcasters should or shouldn’t get their digital channel free or that TV channels 60-69 should or shouldn’t be reallocated and auctioned to the highest bidder.
But what’s going on here, other than blatant election-year blather?
Moreover, where is the White House getting these ideas? Guess.
The average administration staffer or official hasn’t a clue about spectrum auctions, much less fine details about auctioning TV channels 60-69.
Clinton is no better than GOP budgeteers. Both are philosophically world’s apart insofar as spending priorities, but they do share the common belief that hard political choices can be avoided by paying for favorite government programs or corporate tax breaks with the Spectrum Charge Card. Don’t go to the Oval Office or the House floor without it.
That the White House sees little, if any, problem in earmarking spectrum revenues for government programs even before policymakers complete their duty-bound spectrum allocation process or before Congress finishes spectrum reform legislation is evident by the nonchalant explanation of school aid funding by Clinton economic adviser Laura Tyson:
“I want to emphasize-and the documentation for this initiative makes clear-that this is new funding from the spectrum. It is in addition to other spectrum proposals in our budget. So there’s no double-counting here. This is new area of the spectrum that has been found, and it can be auctioned off for this price of $5 billion. So it is fully consistent with budget.”
And totally inconsistent with sound telecommunications policy.
