| Muris Fills Top FTC
Positions |
6/11. The new Federal Trade
Commission Chairman, Tim Muris, announced his selection of
top staff. Joseph Simons will be Director of the Bureau of Competition,
which carries out the FTC's antitrust responsibilities. Howard
Beales will be Director of the Bureau of Consumer
Protection, which handles, among other things, online
privacy and fraud issues. David Scheffman will be
Director of the Bureau
of Economics. William Kovacic will be General Counsel.
Anna Davis will be Director of Congressional Relations.
See, FTC
release.
Joseph Simons (Competition Bureau) was a partner is the
Washington DC office of the law firm of Clifford Chance.
He focused on representing clients before the FTC, DOJ
Antitrust Division, and other agencies in antitrust and
regulatory matters. He also worked with Muris at the FTC
during the late 1980s. See, Clifford
Chance bio.
Howard Beales (Consumer Protection Bureau) is a "Chicago
school" economist who was a professor at the business
school at George Washington University in Washington DC. He
was an Associate Professor of Strategic Management &
Public Policy in the School
of Business and Public Management. He specializes in
consumer research, contract law, economics of commercial free
speech, applied macro-economics, advertising, public policy
toward business, safety and health regulations. Beales and
Muris worked together at the FTC in the 1980s. They have also
co-authored academic works. See, Howard Beales and Timothy
Muris, State and Federal Regulation of National
Advertising, The AEI Press, Washington DC, 1993. See, Amazon
listing (out of print).
David Scheffman (Bureau of Economics) is yet another former
FTC employee picked by Muris. He worked at the FTC from 1979
through 1988, including as Director of the Bureau of
Economics. Scheffman, who will join the FTC on June 25, is an
economics professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen
Graduate School of Management. See, Vanderbilt
bio.
William Kovacic (General Counsel) was a professor at The George Washington
University Law School. He worked at the FTC from 1979
through 1983, first with the Bureau of Competition's Planning
Office and later as an attorney advisor to Commissioner George
Douglas. He also was a professor at George Mason University
School of Law, where Muris also taught. Law students may also
know of Kovacic as an author of the nutshell titled Antitrust
Law and Economics [Amazon]. See, GWU
bio.
Anna Davis (Congressional Relations) also worked at the FTC in
the 1980s. Most recently, she was Director of JD Career
Services at Georgetown University Law Center. |
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| Trade Promotion Authority
Bill Introduced in House |
6/13. Rep. Phil Crane
(R-IL) and others introduced a bill in the House to grant the
President trade promotion authority, which is also known as
fast track authority. The bill would give the President the
authority to negotiate trade agreements that the Senate can
approve or reject, but not amend. The bill does not give the
President authority to include non trade related issues, such
as labor or environmental provisions, in trade agreements.
Rep. Crane is Chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee's Subcommittee on Trade.
Commerce Secretary Don Evans released a statement
in which praised Rep. Crane, and stated the case for fast
track authority. He wrote: "There are more than 130
preferential trade agreements in the world today. The U.S.
belongs to two. We have to get off the sidelines and back into
the game. We must provide our negotiators with the power they
need to sit down at the bargaining table and secure new trade
agreements that open more markets. If we don't move ahead, we
risk falling behind." Similarly, Sen. Charles Grassley
(R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance
Committee, stated that "It's time to move beyond
ideological differences over trade promotion authority and
start looking at concrete proposals. Congressman Crane is
putting forward a strong, specific proposal for members'
consideration. I look forward to working with him and other
members to reach a broad, bipartisan consensus about the scope
and substance of trade promotion authority. The introduction
of this bill is a good start." |
|
|
| Sarbanes Plans to Take S
149 to Senate Floor |
| 6/13. Sen. Paul
Sarbanes (D-MD), the new Chairman of the Senate Banking
Committee, addressed S
149, the Export Administration Act of 2001, during an
unrelated hearing on the nomination of Roger Ferguson to be a
Governor of the Federal Reserve System. Sen. Sarbanes said
that "the Committee reported out earlier this year a
reauthorization of the Export Administration Act by a 19-1
vote. That legislation has been strongly endorsed by the
Administration and we hope to take it up on the Senate floor
as soon as the floor schedule permits." See, statement.
This bill would ease restraints on the export of most dual use
products, such as computers and software. |
|
|
| Rep. Sawyer Introduces
Privacy Bills |
6/12. Rep. Tom Sawyer
(D-OH) introduced HR 2135, the Consumer Privacy Protection
Act. It was referred to the House Commerce Committee.
Rep. Sawyer also introduced HR 2136, Confidential Information
Protection Act, a bill to protect the confidentiality of
information acquired from the public for statistical purposes.
It was referred to the Government
Reform Committee.
Rep. Sawyer described his two bills in a release.
He stated that "the Sawyer Consumer Privacy Protection
Act ... provides for notice of potential secondary uses of
information; consumer choice for personal information such as
phone numbers and addresses; consumer consent to allow
dissemination of Social Security numbers and financial
information; and giving consumers improved access to their
personal information." He also stated that "On the
federal government side, more than 70 federal agencies collect
individual and business data, but only 12 are covered under
OMB issued regulations providing some form of confidential
data protection. The Sawyer Confidential Information
Protection Act would extend the protections government
wide." |
|
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|
| Judiciary Committee Reports
HR 1542 Unfavorably |
6/13. The House
Judiciary Committee held a meeting to mark up HR
1542, the Tauzin Dingell bill, and HR 1698 and 2120, a
pair of competing bills sponsored by Cannon and Conyers. The
Committee adopted an amendment to HR 1542 offered by Rep. James
Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and then voted to report the bill as
amended unfavorably. The Committee rejected HR 2120 by
a vote of 15 to 19. The Committee took no action on HR 1698.
The meeting was brief by Judiciary Committee standards. Only
one roll call vote was taken. Subsequently, all parties
claimed victory. See, committee
release.
Tauzin Dingell. HR 1542, titled the Internet Freedom
and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001, is sponsored by Rep. Billy Tauzin
(R-LA) and Rep. John
Dingell (D-MI), the Chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee.
It was reported by the Commerce Committee, after long and
bitter mark up sessions last month. Its backers, including the
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), argue that it will
promote the deployment of broadband services. It is a
regulatory relief bill. The RBOCs are required by the Telecom
Act of 1996 to open their local facilities to competitors (Section
251); they are also barred from offering in region
interlata service until they have satisfied the FCC that they have met a
checklist of items pertaining to local competition (Section
271). The bill would, among other things, provide
regulatory relief for interlata data (but not voice) services.
Supporters of HR 1542 argued at the mark up that broadband
cable services are not regulated, so DSL service should not be
either.
Sensenbrenner Amendment. The Judiciary Committee, which
has jurisdiction over antitrust matters, was given a
sequential referral granting it only limited time and
jurisdiction over HR 1542. The Committee was not permitted to
rewrite the bill. Rather, it had authority only over the
Attorney General's consultative authority under Section 271.
Pursuant to this limited grant, Rep. Sensenbrenner, the
Chairman of the Committee, offered an amendment with two
specific provisions. First, while HR 1542 removes certain
regulation of RBOCs by the FCC, the Sensenbrenner amendment
would then replace it with antitrust regulation of the RBOCs
by the Department of Justice. The amendment states that
"Section 271 ... is amended by adding at the end the
following: ... Neither a Bell operating company, nor any
affiliate of a Bell operating company, may begin providing
high speed data service or Internet backbone service in any
in-region State ... unless it files with the Attorney General
of the United States an application to provide such service;
and ... the Attorney General ... approves such application
..." The Sensenbrenner amendment would also reverse the
opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Goldwasser
v. Ameritech, in which the Court addressed the application
of antitrust law to RBOCs. Proponents of HR 1542 argued
against the amendment, and argued that it was beyond the
jurisdicition of the Judiciary Committee. Chairman
Sensenbrenner ruled the Sensenbrenner amendment to be in
order. The Committee then adopted the amendment by a voice
vote.
The Committee then adopted by a voice vote a motion made by Rep. Chris Cannon
(R-UT) to report the bill, as amended, unfavorably. Cannon is
one of the leaders of the opposition to HR 1542.
Legislative Intent. The committee's consideration of HR
1542 illustrates the difficulty of discerning a
"legislative intent." Much of the Committee's debate
and compromise was conducted prior to the public meeting. The
Committee members did not debate or explain the meaning of
their reporting the bill unfavorably. There was no roll call
vote on either the passage of the Sensenbrenner amendment, or
the decision to report HR 1542 negatively. Consequently,
immediately after the meeting, Members, industry
representatives and committee staff offered conflicting
interpretations of the committee's intent in statements that
are not a part of the legislative record.
Opponents of HR 1542 called the Committee's action a double
victory. According to Julian Epstein, chief minority counsel,
the HR 1542 lobby was defeated when the Committee adopted the
Sensenbrenner amendment; and it was defeated again when HR
1542 was reported unfavorably. Supporters of HR 1542, such as
Ben Cline, Rep. Bob Goodlatte's Chief of Staff, offered a
different spin. They argued that by reporting HR 1542 as
amended the Committee was expressing its intent that the
version of HR 1542 reported by the Commerce Committee was the
better bill. This spin does not address why HR 1542's
supporters were not able to defeat the Sensenbrenner
amendment. Had they had a majority of the votes, they likely
would have asked for a roll call vote.
Russell
Frisby, President of the Competitive
Telecommunications Association (CompTel), spoke with
reporters after the meeting, and issued release.
He stated that "Today is also a great victory for the
competitive industry. We set out with two simple goals, and we
have achieved all of them. HR 1542 has been negatively
referred and strong anti-trust enforcement has once again
reclaimed its rightful place in telecommunications." In
contrast, Gary Lytle, P/CEO of USTA,
a group which represents the RBOCs, stated in a release
that "Today, the Judiciary Committee rejected a version
of H.R. 1542 that would have added additional burdensome,
unfair regulations to the provision of high-speed Internet
access by telephone companies, and we expect this version of
the bill is likely dead."
If the bill proceeds, it would go next to the House Rules
Committee, and then to the House floor, pursuant to whatever
rule is adopted by the Rules Committee. Whether the House
Republican leadership, with so many pressing items on its
agenda, will bring this bill to the floor, is another
question. The bill's consideration would take time; the debate
would be a divisive and bitter; and, the bill has very little
chance of passing the Senate.
The House Judiciary Committee also narrowly rejected HR 2120,
the Broadband Antitrust Restoration and Reform Act. This bill
was introduced on June 12 by Rep. Chris Cannon
(R-UT), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA),
and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). |
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|
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| Thursday, June 14 |
9:30 AM - 3:30 PM. The U.S. State Department's International
Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC)--
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITAC-T) Study Group
B will meet. The purpose of the ITAC is to advise the State
Department on policy and technical issues with respect to the
International Telecommunication Union and international
telecommunication standardization and development. See, notice
in Federal Register, May 23, 2001, Vol. 66, No. 100, at Page
28591. Location: Department of Commerce, Room B841A, 1401
Constitution Ave, NW, Washington DC.
9:30 AM. The Senate Government Affairs Committee's
Subcommittee on Investigations will hold the first of two
hearings on cross border fraud, focusing on U.S. Canadian law
enforcement cooperation. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Senate
Office Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime will hold an
oversight hearing titled "Fighting Cyber Crime: Efforts
by Private Business Interests." Location: Room 2237,
Rayburn House Office Building.
10:00 AM. The House
Commerce Committee's Telecom Subcommittee will hold a
hearing titled "Ensuring Compatibility with Enhanced 911
Emergency Calling Systems: A Progress Report." Location:
Room 2322, Rayburn House Office Building. The scheduled
witnesses are: Michael Amarosa (True Position), Steve Clark
(U.S. Cellular), James Nixon (VoiceStream Wireless), Andrew
Rimkus (Airbiquity), Steve Souder (9-1-1 Emergency
Communications Center), Thomas Sugrue (FCC Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau).
10:00 AM. The FTC and other agencies will hold a press
conference to announce legal actions taken regarding
fraudulent marketing of supplements and other health products
on the Internet. The participants will include FTC Chairman
Timothy Muris and Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer
Protection Howard Beales. See, FTC
notice. Location: Room 432, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW, Washington DC.
12:00 NOON. The House
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the
Internet, and Intellectual Property will meet to mark up H.R.
2047, the "Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act
of 2002." Location: Room 2141, Rayburn House Office
Building. |
|
|
| Friday, June 15 |
9:30 AM. The Senate Government Affairs Committee's
Subcommittee on Investigations will hold the first of two
hearings on cross border fraud, focusing on U.S. Canadian law
enforcement cooperation. The witnesses will include Hugh
Stevenson, Associate Director for the FTC's Policy Planning
Division. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Senate Office Building.
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM. The FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology will provide a tutorial on voice over the
Internet. The presentation will cover next generation
networks based on VoIP, including soft switches, media
gateways, media servers, VoIP standardization status, and
market drivers of VoIP technologies. See, FCC
notice. Location: FCC, 445 12th St. S.W., Room TW-C305,
Washington DC.
Deadline for the FCC to submit its annual report to various
Congressional committees regarding the progress being made
under the ORBIT
Act in promoting competition in satellite
communications services, and in privatizing INTELSAT and
Inmarsat. See, FCC
notice. |
|
|
| New Democrats Announce E-genda
2001 |
| 6/13. The New Democratic Coalition, a group of moderate
Congressional Democrats, released its e-genda 2001. See, release. |
|
|
| Sen. Bunning Re-Introduces
Social Security Privacy Bill |
6/12. Sen. Jim Bunning
(R-KY) and Sen. Tom Harkin
(D-IA) introduced S 1014, a bill to amend the Social Security
Act to enhance privacy protections for individuals, to prevent
fraudulent misuse of the Social Security account number. It
was referred to the Finance
Committee. This is a revision and re-introduction of a
bill sponsored by Sen. Bunning in the 106th Congress, S
2876.
Sen. Bunning explained the bill in the Senate. He stated,
"This bill prohibits the sale of Social Security numbers
by the private sector, Federal, State and local government
agencies. This bill strengthens existing criminal penalties
for enforcement of Social Security number violations to
include those by government employees. It amends the Fair
Credit Reporting Act to include Social Security number as part
of the information protected under the law, enhances law
enforcement authority of the Office of Inspector General, and
allows Federal courts to order defendants to make restitution
to the Social Security trust funds. This bill would also
prohibit the display of Social Security numbers on drivers
licenses, motor vehicles registration, and other related
identification records, like the official Senate ID
Card." |
|
|
| Roger Ferguson |
| 6/13. The Senate
Banking Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Roger
Ferguson to be a Member of the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve
System. Ferguson, who is currently a Governor, was the
Board of Governors' point man on Year 2000 conversion
preparations. The Committee will vote on the nomination at its
June 20 oversight hearing on the condition of the U.S.
financial system. Sen.
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), the Chairman of the Committee said
that Ferguson "has served with great distinction."
See, statement.
See also, prepared
statement of Ferguson. |
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