Senate Seeks to Toughen JOBS Bill, Aimed at Easing Rules on Start-Ups

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Senate Seeks to Toughen JOBS Bill, Aimed at Easing Rules on Start-Ups

By EDWARD WYATT

WASHINGTON — A decade after the dot-com bubble popped and Enron became synonymous with spectacular fraud, Congress is on the verge of scrapping numerous safeguards against investment fraud and allowing some small companies to sell stock to the public with minimal disclosure or oversight.

The bill, which intends to make it easier for emerging companies to raise money and court investors, is scheduled for several procedural votes in the Senate on Tuesday and could come to a final vote as early as this week. A Senate amendment that differs substantially from a bipartisan version passed overwhelmingly by the House two weeks ago, faces a difficult hurdle.

The amendment must get 60 votes on Tuesday to revise the House bill, and it is unclear that Democrats will be able to attract enough Republican votes.

The JOBS Act, whose acronym stands for Jump-start Our Business Start-ups, has attracted widespread support on Capitol Hill and from the White House for its promise of attracting small-business investment and allowing businesses to hire workers. That it would give legislators something positive to take home to constituents during election season is a bonus.

But the bill faces stiff opposition from, among others, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, pension funds and lobbying groups like the American Association of Retired Persons, which fear that the bill will revive some of the worst practices of the dot-com era.

Ryan Stokes Budget Battle with New 'Blueprint'

Excerpt from an article in

The Hill.com

Ryan stokes budget battle with new ‘blueprint’ 
By Peter Schroeder

A fresh budget proposal this week from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will usher in another round of fighting over the federal pocketbook.

Ryan is expected to announce his “Blueprint for American Renewal” on Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute. His budget panel is expected to follow that up with a markup of the package Wednesday.

The Republican proposal will be met with a barrage of Democratic attacks if, as expected, it sets a lower spending cap than agreed to as part of the summer’s debt-limit deal. House GOP leaders are selling a $1.028 trillion spending cap to their members, down from the $1.047 trillion deal hammered out last summer. Some conservatives are pushing for even stricter limits.

In the Senate, lawmakers will continue work on a bill aimed at making it easier for startup companies to raise capital. But some Democrats have aired concerns that the bill does that by rolling back key investor protections, and are pushing to strengthen that aspect of the bill before advancing it.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the European debt crisis will be a hot topic, just days after the International Monetary Fund signed off on its $37 billion contribution to a broad bailout package for Greece. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will visit the House Financial Services Committee to discuss the state of international finance, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is devoting a Wednesday morning hearing to Europe’s debt woes.

Senate Probes Verizon-Cable Deal

Excerpt from an article in

TheHill.com

Senate probes Verizon-cable deal 
By Brendan Sasso

The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will examine Verizon's $3.6 billion deal with a coalition of cable companies on Wednesday afternoon.

Verizon agreed in December to buy wireless airwave licenses, known as spectrum, from cable companies including Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks. Under a separate deal announced simultaneously, Verizon and the cable companies agreed to cross-sell one another's services.

"The subcommittee carefully examines questions about competition in the wireless and video markets, with the ultimate goal of protecting consumers and reducing their cable and cell phone bills, and these deals are no exception," Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said in a statement announcing the hearing.

The witnesses will be Randal Milch, Verizon's general counsel; David Cohen, Comcast's vice president; Steven Berry, CEO of the Rural Cellular Association; Joel Kelsey, policy adviser for consumer group Free Press; and Timothy Wu, a Columbia University law professor who specializes in Internet, communications and antitrust issues.

Wu served as chairman of Free Press from 2008 to 2011.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are probing whether the deals will hurt competition in the wireless industry.

The Rural Cellular Association, other wireless carriers including Sprint and T-Mobile and consumer groups such as Free Press argue the spectrum deal will allow Verizon, the nation's largest wireless carrier, to consolidate its control over the airwaves, stifling competition. The groups also argue that the cross-marketing deals could lead to price-fixing or other anticompetitive behavior.

Verizon said the spectrum deal will help it meet the growing demands of smartphones and tablet computers. The company pointed out that the cable companies have no immediate plans to use the spectrum licenses.