[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D598-D600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                        House of Representatives


Chamber Action
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced: 16 public bills, H.R. 5553-
5568; 4 private bills, H.R. 5569-5572; and 2 resolutions, H. Con. Res. 
425 and H. Res. 856, were introduced.
  Pages H3641-42
Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages H3642-43
Reports Filed: Reports were filed today as follows:
  H.R. 5293, to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal years 2007 through 2011, with an amendment 
(H. Rept. 109-493); and Conference report on H.R. 4939, making 
emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2006, (H. Rept. 109-494).
Pages H3587-H3627, H3641
Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
Appropriations Act, 2007: The House began consideration of H.R. 5522, 
making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and 
related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007. Further 
consideration is expected to resume tomorrow, Friday, June 9th. 
                                                         Pages H3518-48
  Agreed to limit the number of amendments made in order for debate and 
the time limit for debate on each amendment during further proceedings.
                                                         Pages H3546-47
Agreed to:
  Lynch amendment to increase funding (by offset) by $5 million for the 
State Department's program of nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, 
demining and related programs and activities; and
Page H3533
  Millender-McDonald amendment to increase funding for Bilateral 
Economic Assistance by $2 million (by offset).
Pages H3532-34
Rejected:
  Obey motion that sought to increase funding for International 
Disaster and Famine Assistance for Sudan by $50 million and for the 
Department of State Global HIV/AIDS Initiative by $50 million by 
offsetting funding for Egypt by $100 million (by a recorded vote of 198 
ayes to 225 noes, Roll No. 236).
Pages H3537-46, H3547-48
  Postponed proceedings:
  Blumenauer amendment (No. 1 printed in the Congressional Record of 
June 7th) increases funding for the Development Assistance account by 
$250 million (by offset) to provide clean water and anti-poverty 
assistance.
Pages H3535-37

[[Page D599]]


  H. Res. 851, the rule providing for consideration of the bill was 
agreed to by voice vote, after agreeing to order the previous question 
without objection.
Pages H3502-06
Committee Resignation: Read a letter from Representative DeLay wherein 
he resigned from the Committee on Appropriations, effective 
immediately.
  Pages H3548-50
Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006: The 
House passed H.R. 5252, to promote the deployment of broadband networks 
and services, by a yea-and-nay vote of 321 yeas to 101 nays, Roll No. 
241.
  Pages H3551-87
  Rejected the Solis motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce with instructions to report the same forthwith to 
the House with amendments, by a yea-and-nay vote of 165 yeas to 256 
nays, Roll No. 240, after ordering the previous question. 
                                                         Pages H3583-86
Agreed to:
  Barton Manager's amendment (No. 1 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) 
clarifies the following: (1) what constitutes a franchise area; (2) 
that a person or group seeking authority to provide service under a 
national franchise must agree to comply with all requirements the FCC 
promulgates pursuant to the consumer protection and customer service 
provisions in the bill; (3) that anyone with a national franchise shall 
be subject to all the cable operator provisions of Title VI of the 
Communications Act except for the ones specifically expected in the 
bill; and (4) that nothing in the legislation affects existing pole 
attachment law;
Pages H3569-70
  Wynn amendment (No. 3 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) allows a 
franchising authority to issue an order requiring compliance with FCC 
revised consumer protection rules;
Pages H3571-73
  Johnson, Eddie Bernice, of Texas, amendment (No. 4 printed in H. 
Rept. 109-491) increases discrimination penalty from $500,000 to 
$750,000 for a cable operator that denies access to cable service to 
residents because of the income of that group;
Pages H3573-74
  Rush amendment (No. 5 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) sets forth a 
complaint process to resolve fee disputes between a local franchise 
authority and a cable operator. A franchise authority or a cable 
operator must provide written notice to each other if there is a 
dispute regarding franchise fees or PEG/I-Net support. Both parties 
must meet within 30 days of notification. If the local franchise 
authority and the cable operator have not resolved the dispute within 
90 days then both parties can petition the FCC to resolve the 
complaint. The FCC has 90 days to resolve any fee disputes. The 
amendment provides a 3-year limitation in bringing a complaint to the 
FCC regarding fee disputes;
Pages H3574-75
  Gutknecht amendment (No. 8 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) preserves FCC 
authority to require VOIP providers to: (1) Contribute to the Federal 
universal service fund when they interconnect, either directly or 
indirectly, with incumbent local exchange carrier networks; and (2) 
Properly compensate network owners for the use of their network just as 
incumbent and competitive carriers do today; and
Pages H3581-82
  Smith of Texas amendment (No. 5 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) 
clarifies that the language in section 201 (i.e. the new section 
715(b)(3) of the Communications Act) that gives exclusive authority to 
the FCC to adjudicate complaints concerning network neutrality does not 
affect the applicability of the antitrust laws to cases involving 
network neutrality or the jurisdiction of the courts to hear such cases 
(by a recorded vote of 353 ayes to 68 noes, Roll No. 238). 
                                               Pages H3575-76, H3582-83
Rejected:
  Markey amendment (No. 7 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) seeks to restore 
important non-discrimination requirements enforced by the Federal 
Communications Commission that from the inception of the Internet until 
August of 2005 were binding on telecommunications carriers. This 
amendment essentially has 3 parts: (1) provides a policy statement in 
addition to the general duties of broadband network providers; provides 
for preserved rights and exceptions to the general statutory duties in 
the first part; and provides an expedited complaint process and an 
antitrust savings clause (by a recorded vote of 152 ayes to 269 noes, 
Roll No. 239).
Pages H3576-80, H3583
Withdrawn:
  Jackson-Lee of Texas amendment (No. 2 printed in H. Rept. 109-491) 
reduces the fee paid to local franchise authorities for PEG/iNet 
support by women-owned, small businesses, and socially and economically 
disadvantaged firms from 1% to 0.5%.
Pages H3570-71
  H. Res. 850, the rule providing for consideration of the bill was 
agreed to by a yea-and-nay vote of 262 yeas to 151 nays, Roll No. 237, 
after agreeing to order the previous question. 
                                               Pages H3506-18, H3550-51
  A point of order was raised against the consideration of H. Res. 850 
and it was agreed to proceed with consideration of the resolution, by a 
yea-and-nay vote of 254 yeas to 166 nays, Roll No. 235. 
                                                         Pages H3507-10
Senate Message: Message received from the Senate today appears on page 
H3499.

[[Page D600]]

Amendments: Amendments ordered printed pursuant to the rule appear on 
page H3643.
Quorum Calls--Votes: 4 yea-and-nay votes and 3 recorded votes developed 
during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H3509-10, H3547-48, 
H3550-51, H3582-83, H3583, H3586, and H3586-87. There were no quorum 
calls.
Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 12 midnight.