More Ligado Amendments Sought for House FY21 NDAA
House Republicans are offering dueling amendments to that chamber’s FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) that respectively try to advance and stop efforts to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan. HR-6395 and Senate NDAA version S-4049 have anti-Ligado language (see 2007010070). The three new amendments are among several proposals to tack on 5G security and other tech and telecom-related language to HR-6395 once it reaches the House floor next week. The House Rules Committee will consider proposed amendments Friday. The videoconference meeting begins at 11 a.m. EDT.
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Two House Appropriations Committee members Wednesday teased the need for future legislative language to address concerns from the DOD and others about FCC approval of the Ligado plan. The committee voted 30-22 to advance the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY21 funding bill with money for the FCC and FTC. The House Commerce Committee approved 10 telecom-related bills Wednesday (see 2007150068), including the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451) and Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act (HR-6624).
Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee ranking member Mike Turner, R-Ohio, is seeking an amendment to HR-6395 that would say the FCC's Ligado approval has “no force or effect” until 90 days after the commission and NTIA certify to Congress results of a proposed Sandia National Laboratories-conducted test of potential harmful interference effects of the L-band operations on GPS. The FCC would be required to seek input on the testing plan from NTIA, the Agriculture and Commerce departments, DOD, FAA, National Science Foundation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
House Commerce GOP members Reps. Michael Burgess of Texas and John Shimkus of Illinois seek to strike both of HR-6395’s existing anti-Ligado language. That text would bar DOD from using funding to “retrofit any [GPS] device or system, or network that uses” GPS “to mitigate interference” from Ligado’s planned “commercial terrestrial operations." The other provision the lawmakers want to remove would bar the Pentagon from signing, extending or renewing a contract “with an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations” on the L band unless the secretary of defense certifies lack of interference to DOD GPS devices.
Appropriations Defense Subcommittee ranking member Ken Calvert, R-Calif., said he believes appropriators should consider including language aimed at pausing implementation of Ligado’s plan, after the August recess in an expected continuing resolution to extend government funding past Sept. 30. There needs to be a “true independent third-party review” of all the existing interference tests stakeholders cite, he said.
CR language will be needed if the FCC doesn't grant NTIA’s reconsideration petition (see 2005220055), Calvert said. He believes Congress should wait until after the FCC makes a decision, which he expects “by the end of August.” Calvert is concerned “the FCC will not heed” critics' concerns, citing what he views as blatant disregard for DOD and other agencies’ concerns before approving the plan in April. There’s “no coming back” from the potential harms to GPS once Ligado implements its plan, he said. The FCC and Ligado didn’t comment.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., hoped Congress will act "to study this issue further” and GPS technologies remain “safe and effective” in the future. “We all want broadband in our rural communities,” but “we also must ensure new technologies “don’t disrupt the old technologies that we still rely on,” including GPS, he said. Aguilar has also been talking about the issue with senior House Appropriations Democrat Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland.
House Appropriations cleared the Financial Services FY21 bill with FCC and FTC language intact. The measure allocates $376 million to the FCC, $341 million to the FTC and includes $60 billion in broadband infrastructure grants (see 2007140054).
Appropriations approved the Homeland Security Subcommittee FY21 bill with $20 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s next generation warning system (NGWS). The measure allocates $2.25 billion for the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (see 2007070063). America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler praised House Appropriations for including the NGWS funding.
Other Proposals
Other proposed HR-6295 amendments include two from Republicans to counter the influence of Chinese telecom equipment makers like Huawei and ZTE. One, from Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, would extend the sunset of a prohibition included in the FY 2019 NDAA that bars U.S. agencies from using “risky” technology produced by ZTE or Huawei (see 2007150068). The proposal would make it U.S. policy that “companies that contract with” the federal government “shall decouple their telecommunications relationships from Huawei, ZTE” and other problematic manufacturers.
Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., proposes to require the Commerce Department “prohibit the export of” telecom equipment to “Chinese state-owned entities or Chinese entities financed, directed, or controlled by” the Chinese government that “would serve the primary purpose of assisting, or be specifically configured to assist” China “in acquiring the capability to carry out censorship, surveillance” and other activities.
Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., proposed attaching language from their House-passed Promoting U.S. International Leadership in 5G Act (see 2001080002). HR-3763 would direct the secretary of state to provide assistance and technical expertise to enhance U.S. leadership at international standards-setting bodies that handle 5G and other telecom issues. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., sought an amendment to require NTIA to consult with DHS on a report examining wireless networks’ cybersecurity.
Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., led a proposal to include language from his Promoting Secure 5G Act. HR-5698 would require the Treasury secretary to “instruct” U.S. directors of international financial institutions that it's U.S. policy to support assistance with 5G deployment “only if the technologies provide appropriate security for users,” to “proactively encourage assistance with respect to infrastructure or policy reforms that facilitate the use of secure” technologies (see 2001310059).
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., is leading an amendment to ban federal employees using on government-issued devices the TikTok app or successor apps developed by ByteDance. House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., made two proposals to require reports to Congress on deepfakes -- one from the DOD and another from a working group on the proposed Steering Committee on Emerging Technology.
Clarke also wants to bar DOD from using NDAA funding to buy artificial intelligence technology “that may perpetuate societal biases against protected classes of persons,” including based on race. A separate amendment would bar DOD funding to buy AI that hasn’t been vetted for discriminatory algorithmic bias. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., proposes a State Department report on social media use by foreign terrorist groups “for recruitment, fundraising, and the dissemination of information” and online radicalization of terrorists.