Unanimous Consent Request--S. 650
Floor Speech
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Mr. WELCH. The basic question right now is going to be whether to have a 60-day extension that has been agreed to by the House or to have an extension, as the Senator is proposing, until the end of the fiscal year.
The bottom line--and it is the judgment of many--is that sticking with the 60-day extension is beneficial to achieving the goal of having the parties who are now negotiating come to a longer term resolution even beyond the end of the fiscal year. We have got to extend, ultimately, the spectrum authority beyond 60 days or beyond the end of the fiscal year. We really have to extend it for a much greater period of time in order to achieve the goals that are shared between all of us.
Senator Rounds' bill, of course, as I mentioned, would extend things until September 30. We think that is going to take pressure off negotiators, and we have some confidence that if we keep that 60-day status, we are going to get to that long-term goal.
Further, the House has made it clear that they are not going to take up any bill that moves the date to September 30. So that is just the reality we have to deal with. Others may agree with Senator Rounds to push it to September 30, but the best information we have is that the other body has no intention of taking up that bill. If that were the case and we were to pass a bill extending to September 30 but the House doesn't take it up, then the spectrum authority expires, and that is bad for everybody. It sends the wrong signal, obviously, as well, to our allies and our competitors.
We just can't afford to risk a lapse of authority. Given the reality of the time constraints we are under, even if the Senate were to pass Senator Rounds' bill, we would have a situation where it would be rejected by the House--that is our best judgment--and there would be a lapse in authority, which would be very threatening to the well-being of all of us concerned.
So, on that basis, I offer this objection to the unanimous consent request of my colleague from South Dakota.
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