[opendtv] Re: Its not over until it's over, Yogi proven to be right once again.
- From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:31:13 -0500
I remember reading at the time that House and/or Senate leaders were=20
aware of the discrepancy but chose to mark the bill as approved and send =
it up for signing anyway. I guess, as courts will probably prove, that=20
means the bill is not really law and is now and was then known to be=20
quite vulnerable
It goes round and round. ;-)
- Tom
Dale Kelly wrote:
> DTV legislation: It may not be over yet!
> <http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20060227/dtv-legislati=
on-ye
> t-20060226>
> Feb 27, 2006 1:57 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
> After months of squabbling, Congress finally passed a controversial
> budget-reconciliation bill that set a deadline for the 2009 shutdown of=
> analog television. President Bush signed the legislation into law Feb. =
8. It
> =92s over now, right?
> Well, not quite.
> It seems that due to a clerical typo the House and Senate bills were no=
t
> identical, as the law said it must be. The Senate version contained a
> 13-month subsidy for Medicare patients=92 equipment, while the House pr=
ovided
> 39 months for equipment. The final bill sent from the House to the pres=
ident
> =92s desk contained the Senate=92s 13-month limit. The error, apparentl=
y the
> fault of a Congressional clerk, resulted in $2 billion spending differe=
nce
> between the two bills.
> What does this have to do with DTV? Everything, since the entire DTV
> legislative package is contained in this $39 billion dollar spending
> package. If the legislation is found not to be valid, neither is the ne=
w DTV
> policy.
> In a less contentious time, members of Congress would simply vote to fi=
x the
> technicality. But since the legislation is highly controversial due to =
its
> severe spending cuts for social programs, it barely passed both bodies =
in
> the first place. Neither body wants to revisit the issue in fear that a=
> second vote may rip the entire bill apart. Several legislators, feeling=
> pressure from constituents, have indicated they may vote against the me=
asure
> if the opportunity arises again.
> Don=92t expect the matter to be ignored. One taxpayer is already suing =
in an
> attempt to topple the legislation, which a court is very like to do.
> Congressional leaders are currently at an impasse.
>=20
>=20
> =20
> =20
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