FCC Rule May Bring a Veto Standoff

WASHINGTON —  The White House and lobbyists for media conglomerates scrambled Thursday to prevent a potentially embarrassing showdown between President Bush and members of his own party on an administration-backed move to deregulate business.

Only a few weeks ago, it appeared the administration would easily overcome the remaining obstacles to a federal rule allowing large communications companies to control a larger share of the nation’s television markets.

But a sudden change in political currents, culminating in a House vote Wednesday, has left that outcome in doubt. The turnabout reflects an unanticipated swell of opposition in rural areas to a consolidation of local media and intensive lobbying by liberal and conservative interest groups against the new rule.

As a result, Bush could find himself in the difficult position of either abandoning his support for the rule or using his first presidential veto to try to save it. A veto would put him at odds with many Republican lawmakers.

“It’s an issue that has huge momentum,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “It’s a classic populist issue. It’s an indication that there is a limit to deregulation.”

Although neither side can predict the outcome, the momentum has shifted in Congress toward overturning the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to permit a company to own television stations that reach more than 35% of the nation’s viewers. The FCC raised the cap to 45% this year.

“I do think we have our work cut out for us” in trying to stop the bipartisan stampede to overturn the change, said Bob Okun, chief Washington lobbyist for NBC, a unit of General Electric Co.

Added Ken Johnson, a spokesman for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), who supports the FCC decision: “It’s trench warfare.”

Opponents of the expanded ownership cap argue that it will constrain diversity in entertainment and news programming. Supporters say the old rule was outdated in an era of hundreds of cable channels and millions of Web sites.

The administration has sided with big television networks, such as CBS parent Viacom Inc. and Fox parent News Corp. In a letter to Congress this week, the White House said the new ownership rule would “more accurately reflect the changing media landscape ... while still guarding against undue concentration in the marketplace.”

But that position was dramatically rebuffed Wednesday when the House, on a 400-21 vote, passed a bill that includes a provision to block the FCC rule. Although the provision is part of a larger spending measure, the media ownership issue became the focus of attention.

In the wake of the vote, GOP leaders and other supporters of the FCC rule launched a petition drive to show that a Bush veto would be backed by at least 146 House members -- the number needed to sustain such a presidential action.

But as of late Thursday, the petition was far short of that number. Helping to gather names were lobbyists for big media companies and Americans for Tax Reform, a group that backs tax cuts and deregulation.

Foes of the expanded ownership cap are relying on strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate -- and opposition to the rule change from influential groups ranging from the National Rifle Assn. to the National Organization for Women -- to persuade Bush not to veto the measure.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), a leading critic of the expanded cap, said Wednesday’s overwhelming House vote “sends a message to the president.”

Dingell added: “There will be a similar message coming from Senate.”

The Senate has yet to act, but many of its members -- Republicans as well as Democrats -- have been outspoken in their criticism of the new rule.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said a measure he was sponsoring to nullify the FCC decision would come before the Senate in early September. He predicted that it would pass.

Johnson, the Tauzin aide, disputed that Wednesday’s vote -- in which the FCC rebuke was included in a bill funding popular programs in the Commerce, Justice and State departments -- was a referendum on the TV ownership issue.

“It was a 10-line amendment in a $41-billion appropriation bill,” Johnson said. “People who are spinning this as a huge blow to the FCC need to adjust their antennas because their logic is a little fuzzy.”

But Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) said the bill’s margin of passage was bigger than expected because it included the provision to block the FCC rule.

House GOP leaders did not try to delete the provision because they knew they would lose. They concluded such a loss would make it harder to get rid of the provision in negotiations with the Senate.

Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), a supporter of the FCC rule, disputed claims that it would result in less coverage of local news and events. He said Republicans defected from the Bush camp on the issue because they were “drawn into this very, very wrongheaded view” of the rule’s effect.

Administration officials expressed confidence that the provision would be eliminated when House and Senate negotiators hash out a final version of the spending bill.

“We are going to work with Congress” to try to strip out the amendment, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said.

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House Budget Office, said, “In every instance the administration has issued a veto threat, the [offending] provision has been changed or dropped.”

Also, aides to Senate Republican leaders said there remain plenty of opportunities to avoid a veto confrontation.

One aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “There is a long road ahead between a vote on an appropriations bill and a vote on a veto override.”

Times staff writer Jube Shiver Jr. contributed to this report.