Tech, telecom policy stuck in neutral

Now that Congress has reopened the federal government, lawmakers can get back to what they had been doing all along on tech and telecom policy -- not a whole lot.

The endless string of battles over the budget this year has sapped time and energy from the corners of Capitol Hill that grind away quietly at complex tech policy issues. And the next fiscal crisis looming over the House and Senate is threatening to disrupt that work again -- incapacitating immigration reform, stalling key federal nominees and delaying proposals to restrict the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance programs. When Congress is “spending all of our time creating crises and helping to destroy the American economy,” the Hill’s attention is simply “diverted from other issues,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), whose district includes several headquarters for tech companies. In fact, many of the tech and telecom policy priorities now sitting idly on lawmakers’ plates are actually leftovers from last year. And a number of those key bills and oversight hearings are now in danger of slipping yet again, into 2014 election-year territory when the politics will only intensify.