HOUSE LEADERS REVIEWING TAUZIN-DINGELL COMPROMISE BILL

House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) were meeting Tues. afternoon with House leadership to present compromise version of data deregulation legislation (HR-1542), House Majority Leader Armey (R-Tex.) said in press briefing. He credited Tauzin for hard work on moving version of bill referred to full House that would loosen regulations on Bell company provision of Internet backbone and high-speed Internet services.

Armey confirmed that core element of negotiation’s sticking points has been whether to include provision that would address federal antitrust jurisdictional concerns raised by Goldwasser v. Ameritech decision, which said telecom industry disputes must be dealt with under Telecom Act, rather than through antitrust law.

Sensenbrenner and other Judiciary members had raised that issue earlier this year when panel marked up HR-1542 with unfavorable referral while including Sensenbrenner amendment that would effectively overturn Goldwasser and increase Dept. of Justice oversight of Bell company applications for long distance authority. Armey said he expected compromise to combine concerns of Tauzin and Sensenbrenner into package, details of which he was poised to review Tues.: “We need to see the details of what [Tauzin] has been working out… Look for an announcement after the meeting.” Armey wouldn’t say whether the bill would go to House floor for vote this week, as had been expected.

Meanwhile, in letter sent Tues. to Administration, Congress and FCC, 8 economists warned that Tauzin-Dingell bill would hurt economy because it would eliminate unbundling, which they said was one of best ways to spark investment. Letter, distributed to news media by CompTel, appeared to be response to Dec. 4 letter by another group of economists who urged adoption of Tauzin-Dingell measure (CD Dec 6 p8). Best way to restore telecom sector “as an engine of technological and economic growth” is to continue policies adopted in Telecom Act and “not to dismantle those policies as proposed” in Dec. 4 letter, latest group of economists wrote. New letter was signed by N.Y.U. Economics Prof. William Baumol Stanford U. Economics Prof. Douglas Bernheim, Stanford Prof. Robert McNeil, MIT Research Program on Internet & Telecom Convergence’s William Lehr, Georgetown U. Economics Prof. John Mayo, N.Y.U. Economics Prof. Janusz Ordover,. MICRA Inc.’s Frederick Warren-Boulton, Princeton U. Economics & Public Affairs Prof. Robert Willig. Letter argued that “the unbundling and pricing principles that the [Dec. 4] letter opposes are designed to harness the power of competitive markets to create potent incentives to invest in new generations of technology of services.” It concluded: “The surest path to a robust and efficient telecommunications infrastructure is reliance on markets that really are competitive. We urge the Administration to support competition over monopoly in our critical telecommunications markets.” Meanwhile, NASUCA joined opponents with letter to House members urging them to vote against H.R. 1542 because it would “lead to rate hikes and is simply bad for consumers.”