GOP includes spectrum auctions, net-neutrality restriction in payroll tax bill

The House Republican bill to extend the payroll tax holiday, unveiled on Friday, includes Rep. Greg Walden's (R-Ore.) spectrum bill and a controversial anti-net-neutrality provision that Democrats have called "poison."

Walden's spectrum legislation, which could raise as much as $15 billion through government auctions of airwaves, helps to offset the cost of the omnibus spending package. 

Although Democrats support the broad outline of the spectrum language, they are adamantly opposed to the amendment from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that would restrict the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ability to impose net-neutrality conditions on wireless companies that purchase spectrum leases at auction. 

 The FCC adopted net-neutrality rules last year that prohibit Internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to legitimate websites.

Blackburn argues her amendment is not an attempt to repeal the FCC's rules but would prevent the FCC from imposing unnecessary restrictions on businesses.

But Democrats see the provision as an attack on the FCC's ability to protect consumers and promote competition.

Walden’s spectrum bill, the Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act, authorizes the FCC to auction spectrum that currently belongs to television broadcasters, splitting some of the revenue with the stations that choose to participate.

The spectrum is potentially worth billions of dollars to wireless carriers, which are struggling to meet the growing data demands of smartphones and tablet computers.

In a concession to Democrats, the bill also allocates the D block of spectrum to create a nationwide public-safety network. The network would allow first responders to communicate using video and other data during emergencies and would help officials from different agencies communicate with each other.

Auctioning spectrum has become a hot issue on Capitol Hill in recent months.

The Senate version of the spectrum bill, S. 911, cleared the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in June but has not come up for a vote in the full Senate. There was speculation that the deficit-reduction supercommittee would include spectrum language in a possible deal before those talks collapsed. And President Obama included spectrum provisions in his jobs bill, though Congress has not acted on them. 

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