Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), former governors who had fought to make the extension temporary and soften its impact on states, also said they were happy with the outcome.
"I feel a whole lot better than I thought I would," Carper said. "It was a principled fight, and we didn't get everything we wanted, but neither did the other side."
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Alexander said that making the moratorium temporary and exempting Internet telephony from the ban were key victories for states, which rely on telephone taxes to help pay for education and other state services.
He said he hopes House negotiators will "respect the fact that we really worked on this," and adopt the Senate version.
In the end, both men voted for the final version of the bill.
It was unclear last night whether the telecommunications and technology industries, which had lobbied hard for the original Allen-Wyden bill before endorsing the compromise, would now push for the House version.
"All we've wanted is parity" with cable-modem service when it comes to taxation, said Mark Mullet, Verizon Communications vice president for government affairs, before the vote. By making DSL service tax-free, the telephone companies have argued, they can offer more competitive prices and invest in building out their networks.
Industry officials were not available for comment after the vote.
Michael Mazerov, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, said that the Senate compromise significantly eased the short-term burden on states.
But the center has estimated that if all telephone service migrated to the Internet and was tax exempt, as the House bill provides, states could lose as much as $10 billion a year.
