We're talking here about paying up front for the extension of unemployment benefits and, of course, the payroll tax cut extension through "the auction of public airwaves now used for television broadcasts to create more wireless Internet systems."
If a compromise bill completed Thursday by Congress is approved as expected by this weekend, the result will eventually be faster connections for smartphones, iPads and other data-hungry mobile devices. Their explosive popularity has overwhelmed the ability, particularly in big cities, for systems to quickly download maps, video games and movies.
The measure would be a rare instance of the government compensating private companies with the proceeds from an auction of public property — broadcast licenses — once given free.
The auctions, which are projected to raise more than $25 billion, would also further the Obama administration’s broadband expansion plans and create a nationwide communications network for emergency workers that would allow police, fire and other responders from different departments and jurisdictions to talk to each other directly. ...NYT
It's shocking that it has taken over ten years and a new administration to address the shocking problem that came to light after the fall of the twin towers: the inability of key rescue agencies to communicate with each other. It's also important to watch which communication systems get the bandwidth and who gets squeezed out. In other words, the passage of this bill represents some wins and some losses. On the plus side (and it was given plenty of attention) it was a bipartisan bill.
The legislation is the result of an unusual degree of cooperation between two parties that have fought bitterly over recent issues, and members of the conference committee that negotiated the deal played to the cameras on Thursday. One by one, members filed into the office of the committee’s chairman, Representative Dave Camp, Republican from Michigan, to sign the papers splayed out neatly on a large table that rested under an ornate chandelier.
Mr. Camp and his chief negotiating partner, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, linked hands for the cameras, as Mr. Baucus said helpfully for anyone who did not get the visual cue: “Working together!” ...NYT
Great! And a little sickening. And John Boehner grumbled because the bill also tends to create jobs but Boehner a) doesn't want that, and b) really really doesn't want that.
Not all of us may want it, either: the bill is not favored by the head of the Federal Communications Commission because it "sets limits on what actions the F.C.C. can take to reclaim airwaves from broadcasters," by playing to the gluttony of major communications corporations like ATT and Verizon. Surprise.
