Judiciary Unlikely to Get a Crack at Barton's Telecom Bill

JUDICIARY UNLIKELY TO GET A CRACK AT BARTON'S TELECOM BILL, SOURCES SAY
[SOURCE: Congressional Quarterly, AUTHOR: Joelle Tessler]
The House Judiciary Committee appears unlikely to get a chance to mark up telecommunications legislation approved by the Commerce Committee late last month, Capitol Hill sources said Wednesday. The House parliamentarian is likely to deny Judiciary's request for a referral of the bill, according to the sources, who said they expected an announcement soon. If the parliamentarian in fact refuses to send the measure to Judiciary for a second review, it would be a defeat for Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), who has insisted that his panel's oversight of business competition and antitrust issues entitles it to a crack at the telecom measure. If Judiciary cannot mark up that bill, Rep Sensenbrenner and three of his committee's key Democrats are expected to introduce their own legislation to address one of the most contentious parts of Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton's bill -- the so-called net neutrality provision, which is intended to prevent phone and cable companies from abusing their power over the nation's broadband networks. Rep Sensenbrenner is working with Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, as well as Democrats Rick Boucher of Virginia and Zoe Lofgren of California, to draft a stand-alone bill that would create strong net neutrality restrictions. Rep Lofgren represents part of Silicon Valley, home to many of the companies leading the push for such protections.
http://www.cq.com
(article not available online)

* House Judiciary Preps Neutrality Bill
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6335841.html?display=Breaking+News