Lawmakers Focus On Telecom Overhaul

This week's tech focus on Capitol Hill was heavily slanted toward the telecommunications sector, as lawmakers returned from their Easter break with telecom reform on their minds.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee was the primary battleground. By a vote of 42-12, the panel approved a measure considered favorable to the Bell telecom firms.

Members rejected two Democratic amendments, one designed to ensure "network neutrality" for all high-speed Internet content and the other to require new video programmers to offer service to their entire communities.

Listen to the rest of the podcast for the full report on this week's telecom activities.

Bush, China's Hu Discuss Tech Issues

Chinese President Hu Jintao came to America this week, and tech talk was on the agenda.

While at the White House, Hu urged the United States to ease controls on high-technology exports to China. U.S. President Bush and Hu agreed to more cooperation in countering terrorism, combating avian flu and responding to natural disasters.

Hu added that China is ready to expand its market access, increase U.S. imports and strengthen intellectual property protection. He further said that that is ready to expand people exchanges in culture, education, science and technology.

Also this week, President Bush picked a new White House budget director and U.S. trade representative, and details of comprehensive Senate telecommunications legislation surfaced. For those stories and more, listen to this week's podcast.

Telecom Bill Overcomes First Hurdle

The push for telecommunications reform passed its first test in the House when an Energy and Commerce subcommittee that oversees telecom issues approved the bill that has dominated debate for two weeks. The vote was 27-4.

Lawmakers focused on two big issues of discrimination: "redlining" and "network neutrality."

Redlining refers to the practice of offering services in select areas based on income -- in this case, video services. Network neutrality describes efforts to keep top telecom and cable companies from charging competitors more to distribute certain high-speed Internet content.

The panel rejected Democratic-sponsored amendments on both issues.

Other tech-related news this week involved the privacy of taxpayer data, the right to gamble online and the growth of tech "pork" in the federal budget. Listen to the podcast for the details.