Key senators battle over emergency communications

Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and John McCain, R-Ariz., are engaged in a turf battle over emergency communications amendments that they are seeking to add to a port security measure. Each proposal would reserve $1 billion for equipment to let emergency responders communicate across jurisdictions, but they vary in how states could use the funds.

Some Capitol Hill aides insisted that Stevens offered his version to fend off McCain's as part of an ongoing tit-for-tat between the two.

When Stevens took the helm of the Senate Commerce Committee, he eliminated a communications subcommittee that McCain was in line to chair. The two also have sparred on a host of matters, including whether the cable industry should offer per-channel programming. A Stevens spokesman declined to comment.

The Stevens amendment would define how states could allocate interoperability money under the bill, H.R. 4954, but the McCain proposal would not. Several major public-safety organizations, including the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, have endorsed the McCain plan.

The varying approaches set the stage for possible negotiations between the lawmakers to meld the initiatives, a source said.

Some industry observers viewed the developments as an indication that Stevens is pursuing a new legislative strategy to move his stalled telecommunications bill. With prospects for that comprehensive legislation dim, Stevens appears to be trying to revive relatively non-controversial sections, sources said.

The Alaskan is expected to make a floor speech Wednesday about his interoperability proposal.

Some observers think Stevens will seek to tack sections of his telecom legislation onto various appropriations measures and other vehicles. Stevens, the president pro tempore of the Senate and the former chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, has a formidable reputation as a savvy parliamentarian adept at inserting pet provisions into spending bills.

"I think he'll do whatever he can" to salvage his legislation before adjournment in October, an industry source said. The senator likely would have additional chances to amend appropriations measures during a post-election session in November.

On a related note, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has filed two versions of an "enhanced 911" bill, S. 1063, as amendments to the port security measure. Burns is a co-sponsor of the legislation, which would require the FCC to ensure that E911 service is available to Internet telephone customers -- but also would permit temporary waivers if compliance is not technically feasible.

In August, some Democratic senators anonymously blocked the E911 bill, authored by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., from being adopted by the Senate by voice vote. They placed procedural "holds" on the measure to prevent it from becoming a vehicle for broader telecom legislation containing provisions they do not support.