Senate sends satellite TV bill to Obama

The Senate passed a five-year extension of a satellite TV law that allows more than 1.5 million people to continue to receive broadcast channels through satellite providers.

The Senate approved H.R. 5728, the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which expired at the end of the year, through a unanimous consent agreement on Thursday.

{mosads}The House passed the same measure on Wednesday, meaning it now heads to President Obama’s desk for his signature before becoming law.

The Senate sent two more bills to the president’s desk. H.R. 5441 amends the federal charter of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars to recognize the military service of women. The House passed the bill by voice-vote earlier in the week. And H.R. 4067 requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue to instruct Medicare contractors not to enforce requirements for direct physician supervision of outpatient therapeutic services for small rural hospitals through the end of the year.

The Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act, was also cleared in the Senate but an amendment was added, sending the measure back to the House. H.R. 669 requires more federally funded research and data collection on sudden unexpected infant death (SUID).

Lawmakers left town Thursday night until after the Thanksgiving holiday, leaving only two weeks to pass a measure to keep the government funded past Dec. 11.