What's happening on the Hill while I'm in Texas? EU wants online poker back, Barton wants to kill Universal Service (again).

Some quick dispatches from Congress Daily PM:

The European Union threatened to lodge a complaint at the World Trade Organization over U.S. laws that prohibit gambling Web sites, saying the rules may break global rules by discriminating against companies based in the bloc, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. authorities have targeted European companies for operating gaming sites, said the European Commission, which today announced an investigation into the U.S. practice. The United States has not taken action against domestic companies that offer similar services, said the commission, the European Union's executive arm. "The U.S. has the right to address legitimate public policy concerns relating to Internet gambling, but discrimination against EU companies cannot be part of the policy mix," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement. The U.S. law banning Americans from wagering on gaming Web sites was ruled illegal by the WTO in 2004.

Next, Joe Barton (R-TX) along with John McCain (R-AZ) are quietly trying to kill off the Universal Service Fund, which provides phone service to all Americans, by "capping" the amount it can raise from long distance access fees, as well as changing the source of its' funding to individual consumers, making it a political hot potato. CongressDaily's David Hatch reports:

House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, one of the fiercest critics of the $7 billion universal service program, is quietly drafting legislation to permanently cap the federal fund, which subsidizes telecom and Internet connections for citizens, hospitals, libraries and schools in rural- and low-income areas. Committee staffers said the bill is intended to spark debate and influence any legislative action on the topic in 2009 after a new administration takes control. They did not provide a timeframe for the measure's introduction. Barton is preparing his bill as the FCC grapples over revisions to the fund and Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., plans hearings later this year on revamping universal service.

The FCC is seeking to impose a temporary cap, but Barton would go further with a permanent ceiling, a move certain to draw the ire of the fund's many proponents on Capitol Hill, particularly on the Senate Commerce Committee. Nevertheless, some prominent lawmakers have championed the idea. In 2006, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a former Senate Commerce chairman and now the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, co-authored an amendment that would have capped a key portion of the fund assisting rural carriers. It was eventually withdrawn amid wrangling over the issue.

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