Senate Tables Amendment to Telecommunications Bill : Congress: Justice Department is blocked from a greater role in long-distance service decisions.

The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposed telecommunications bill amendment that would have given the Justice Department a major say in deciding when regional phone companies could offer long-distance service.

The vote to shelve the amendment ended three days of debate on what has been the most hotly contested proposed addition to the wide-ranging telecommunications reform bill. The vote was 57 to 43.

A key sponsor of the amendment, Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), said he wants to bring it up for a formal vote later in the debate. But the Senate’s move to table the measure dealt a blow to its prospects for being added later to the sweeping piece of legislation.

“I think we made a great breakthrough with that good vote,” Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), the chief sponsor of the overall legislation, told reporters. “I hope this will break the impasse.”

The legislation, which must be merged with a similar House measure, would eliminate many longstanding regulations, opening the way for local phone companies, long-distance systems and cable TV operators to compete.

A vote on the full Senate bill could come as early as today. Lawmakers are to deal with a variety of remaining amendments first.

Even without a major role for the Justice Department, the regional phone companies, or Baby Bells, would face various tests before they would be free to enter the long-distance market, an area from which they have been barred since the 1984 breakup of the Bell system. Backers of the amendment have argued that the Justice Department would be in a far better position to judge whether the Bells could use their dominant position to stifle the competition that the bill aims to promote.

But opponents favor leaving matters to the Federal Communications Commission, giving the Justice Department a much lesser role as consultant to the agency.

They contend that giving the Justice Department a more prominent role could complicate the process and would ultimately delay the Bells’ entry into new markets.

“It’s one more dilatory hurdle,” said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “In short, I think it’s a bad idea.”

As it stands, the bill would require the FCC to let the Bell companies enter the long-distance market once they met a checklist of requirements to open their local markets to rivals. A “public interest” test must also be satisfied.

The Justice Department would be free to pursue the Bell companies if they later engaged in anti-competitive behavior. But some lawmakers worry that taking the traditional antitrust route will prove less effective.

“At that point, the damage is done,” said Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). “We will be enforcing the law after competition has been driven out.”

Long-distance companies lobbied hard to persuade the Senate that antitrust regulators should be involved before the Bell companies are freed to enter new markets.

The Clinton Administration has also been a vocal advocate.