House votes to put off digital TV until June 12

WASHINGTON -- Television viewers will have another four months to make sure their older TVs are converted to receive digital signals as the result of legislation the House finalized last week.

Lawmakers voted 264-158 to delay from Feb. 17 until June 12 the end of analog broadcasting and the mandatory transition to digital TV signals. The Senate already had passed the measure unanimously.

They acted after learning that 6.5 million people have not yet installed converter boxes that would be necessary to receive digital TV on analog sets. More than 3 million people are on a waiting list for government-issued $40 coupons to buy converters.

The $1.34 billion coupon program ran out of money in January, and $650 million to replenish the account is in the economic stimulus bill that Congress is expected to pass in the next week or so.

Viewers who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or who have newer sets with digital tuners would not be affected.

Lawmakers who voted to stay with the Feb. 17 deadline argued that an extension would confuse consumers and burden companies that have spent millions of dollars preparing for the change.

They also argued that the delay would hamper emergency managers who are supposed to take over the bandwidth that will be freed when the analog signals are terminated.

A compromise in the bill would allow TV stations to turn off analog before June if they wished and for emergency responders to make use of the voided spectrum as it becomes available.

Advocates for the extended deadline predicted consumer outrage if millions of Americans suddenly were unable to get their TVs working.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., voted to extend the deadline. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., voted against the extension.

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM EXPANDED

The House completed and sent to President Barack Obama a bill to expand federal health insurance for children. Obama signed it into law hours later.

The new law allocates an additional $32.8 billion over the next 41/2 years for the state children's health insurance program, or SCHIP.

The expansion would offer health coverage for about 4.1 million additional children from families that are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but not wealthy enough to afford private health insurance.

Critics said, among other things, that eligibility for the program was loosened too much, enabling coverage for families who should be able to buy private insurance.

The bill passed the House in January, but minor changes in the Senate made a follow-up vote necessary. The final House vote was 290-135.

Berkley and Titus voted for the bill. Heller opposed it.

SENATE DEBATES STIMULUS

The Senate neared passage of an economic stimulus bill containing hundreds of billions of dollars in new funding to create jobs and tax cuts to spur consumer spending and investment, both elements of a strategy by President Obama to send a jolt through the sagging economy.

Debate during the week centered on whether to cut the cost of the package that approached $1 trillion. Democrats said they were told by economists that an ambitious bill was necessary; a number of Republicans charged that parts of the bill contained wasteful spending that would not create jobs.

During the week, senators rejected an effort by Republicans to shift the focus of the bill away from spending and toward efforts to prop up the troubled housing sector, which they contended was the real "cancer" beneath the recession.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., proposed a substitute that would have offered bargain mortgages at around 4 percent interest to credit-worthy borrowers to refinance their homes or buy new ones.

He said the $300 billion plan would affect 40 million families, providing each an average monthly reduction of $400 on their home payment.

Democrats said the cost of the mortgage plan would greatly exceed GOP projections and it would not help families whose credit has been damaged and who are in the most danger of losing their homes.

They said the real winners would be the banks that would collect thousands of dollars in fees and closing costs for each loan they refinanced.

The Ensign amendment was killed 35-62. Ensign voted for it while Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted against it.

Contact Stephens Media Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephens media.com or 202-783-1760.