HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER HAS ‘NOTHING PLANNED’ FOR TAUZIN-DINGELL

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) doesn’t plan to schedule House debate on HR-1542, bill by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat John Dingell (D-Mich.) that would lift restrictions on ability of Bell companies to offer data services across interLATA boundaries. Responding to inquiry late last week on floor by House Minority Whip Bonior (D-Mich.), Armey said: “There is nothing planned at this time with respect to scheduling that bill for floor debate. Certainly I would not see it next week, and I could not tell the gentleman at what time we might expect it following the [July 4] recess.”

Armey’s comment came on heels of statement by House Rules Committee Chmn. Dreier (R-Cal.) that “nothing’s happening right now” on Tauzin-Dingell (WID June 20 p4), despite fact that movement of bill -- and which form could be considered by full House -- was in committee’s hands. Rules panel must reconcile Commerce Committee bill with negative recommendation of Judiciary Committee and amendment by Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) that would insert Dept. of Justice into Bell review process. Dreier also had said opposition from Senate could have impact on speed with which committee took action on HR-1542. Senate’s first review of bill consisted almost exclusively of puzzlement about why Bells would push for deregulation, attempt that Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings described as “biggest bunch of nonsense I ever heard.”

HR-1542 is “very important piece of legislation dealing with a major sector of the American economy,” Armey said, but he only vaguely implied what action, if any, House leadership might eventually take on bill: “I think at this point what we would prefer to do is examine the work of the Committee on the Judiciary.”

McLeodUSA Chmn. Clark McLeod said in statement that committee’s negative response to Tauzin-Dingell indicated that it was “dead on arrival in the Senate.”

Commerce Committee spokesman Ken Johnson reiterated that Tauzin had commitment from House Speaker Hastert (R-Ill.) to review bill on House floor: “The only question is when we would be summoned to the floor. It could be as soon as 2 weeks, or it could be later.”

Meanwhile, Sprint joined Voices for Choices, coalition of CLECs, IXCs and ISPs opposed to HR-1542. Sprint Gen. Counsel Richard Devlin said group was “highly effective advocate for those who want to make sure consumers have a choice of broadband providers and benefit from the innovation and lower prices that come with competition.”