So you have a couple more days to contact your Congressman. From today's National Journal Insider Update:
House Republican leaders are pressing forward with the Bell company-led effort to pass telecommunications legislation and have scheduled the measure -- designed to make it easier for the Bells to enter the video service market -- for a floor vote that likely will take place this Friday.Emphasis added. (Thanks to the Benton Foundation's daily email update for the heads-up.)
But Republican leaders are also seeking to avoid requiring members to vote on the contentious issue of network neutrality, congressional and industry sources said. And Bell company lobbyists have been tasked with generating sufficient support against a network neutrality amendment.
A decision on how to proceed on the network neutrality issue is expected Wednesday, when the House Rules Committee meets to determine the guidelines for floor debate on the telecom legislation.
The underlying bill, H.R. 5252 -- which passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee 42-12 on April 26 -- would ease municipal video franchising rules that have limited the Bell companies' ability to offer nationwide video services. Opposition to the franchising aspect comes from the cable industry and municipalities
If Bell advocates of the telecom measure are not able to generate support against a neutrality amendment, the measure could slip to next week, said industry sources.
But an aide to House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said leaders were going to proceed with an unusual vote outside the chamber's normal Tuesday-to-Thursday work week. "We will have a vote on Friday," said Boehner spokesman Kevin Madden, referring to the telecom measure.
After his committee was denied a chance to consider the Energy and Commerce-passed bill, House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., authored rival H.R. 5417 that included strict network neutrality rules. It passed 20-13. Sensenbrenner said last week that he probably would seek to offer his bill as an amendment to H.R. 5252.
The House Rules Committee will decide on whether to allow a vote on such an amendment no earlier than Wednesday, said a Rules Committee spokeswoman.