Senators Eye Prehearing Broadband Infrastructure Proposals

The hearing is focused on “what we’ve been able to do” on broadband funding with what Congress allocated in recent years and FCC actions like the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, said Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in an interview. “Obviously, we’ll also talk about what we want to do moving forward, given our experience during COVID has showed us how important broadband infrastructure is.” The panel begins at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. The House Commerce Committee plans a virtual hearing next week (see 2103150069) on Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow's America Act (HR-1848), which includes connectivity money.

Several Senate Democrats, including Public Works Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Ben Cardin of Maryland and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, told us they’re open to again invoking budget reconciliation to enact a legislative package that includes broadband money. Cardin was caught on a hot mic during a Monday event telling Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that Democrats would “most likely have to use reconciliation” to enact a bill, given resistance from Republicans.

“It’s too early to tell” whether Democrats will ultimately use reconciliation, since “we don’t even have” legislative language advanced through relevant committees like Senate Commerce, Cardin told us after his conversation with Buttigieg. “We’re hoping to work in a bipartisan way” if possible. Klobuchar, who led Senate-side filing last week (see 2103110060) of the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act broadband bill (HR-1783/S-745), said her party will “find a way” to enact an infrastructure measure, whether via a bipartisan agreement or reconciliation.

Cantwell isn’t ready to rule in a new reconciliation process. “We’re going to have a lot of bipartisan conversations” in coming weeks on what a consensus broadband proposal could include, she said. “When it comes to broadband, everybody may have different views” on what that looks like, but “they’re regional views” rather than based on partisan ideology.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told us he hopes Democrats “don’t go down” the reconciliation “path again. Infrastructure has always been something that’s been bipartisan, and I would hope they would attempt to involve Republicans and get their ideas and try to come up with” a consensus measure. Reconciliation “makes it a very hyperpartisan process,” he said. “It affects people’s perception at the end, and it hurts the durability of the product.” Democrats will “have to defend” the infrastructure measure “on their own” if they choose reconciliation, “and I always think that can be hard to do, because there are going to be a lot of things in there that are going to be hard to defend,” said Thune, who’s also minority whip.

Klobuchar Proposal

Klobuchar told us she hasn’t gotten specific feedback from the Biden administration on whether it backs the broadband funding proposals included in HR-1783/S-745, citing ongoing negotiations on how it will translate into a combined infrastructure measure. Biden’s “big priority is infrastructure, and I’m doing the bill with” House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., “who’s close to” Biden, she said. “I know they’re very receptive to doing a major broadband effort.” HR-1783/S-745 proposes more than $94 billion for broadband. Klobuchar promoted S-745 during a Senate Broadband Caucus virtual event Tuesday, saying Senate Commerce Democrats met earlier that day to discuss plans to mark up infrastructure legislation.

Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and other Senate Democrats we spoke with noted interest in HR-1783/S-745 but didn’t commit to endorsing it yet. “I have to look at” the $94 billion proposal and others, said Van Hollen, the chamber’s lead FCC appropriator. “I’ve been pushing for expanding federal investment in broadband” and hope it will be a major component of a final infrastructure measure.

Thune and other Republicans haven’t come out against HR-1783/S-745 yet but noted some misgivings. “If we’re going to do an infrastructure bill, I think broadband ought to be on the list” of things the measure addresses, Thune said. “I have no idea how the Democrats are proposing to structure this or pay for it, and I think that’s going to probably be an issue.”

“We’ve put billions into broadband” via the FCC, NTIA and Department of Agriculture, said Senate Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who’s also a Commerce member. “Can we ever have enough? Probably not. But I think we need to look at what we’ve done at this point before” embarking on a “big, huge spending” plan like what’s proposed in HR-1783/S-745.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., suggested some of the up to $65 billion in C-band spectrum auction proceeds that the Broadband Reserve Fund Act (S-592) proposes to reallocate could be used to pay for connectivity funding included in an infrastructure measure. She co-sponsored the measure (see 2103040076) with Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Concerns

Former FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, one of the officials set to testify Wednesday, told us he has “some concerns about what I’ve seen so far” in Democrats’ broadband infrastructure proposals. Those worries come in the context of what Congress, the FCC and others did to improve broadband access in recent years, he said: “The question in my mind is, is there going to be bipartisan agreement to look at these issues, or is it just going to be a railroad towards a conclusion?” Any Democratic caucus move toward pursuing reconciliation would be a “death knell to bipartisanship,” O'Rielly said. “If it goes that route, what you wind up doing” is enacting the funding without “the guardrails needed to make the programs work.”

Congress can “best target” any broadband infrastructure funding via existing FCC programs and coordinating with NTIA and other federal agencies, O’Rielly said. “We’ve certainly got to address the mapping,” too. Lawmakers should also be “removing obstacles that already exist to deployments by private-sector companies,” including “problems with pole attachments,” he said. House Commerce Republicans floated a set of 28 broadband bills in February that in part focused on easing regulatory barriers (see 2102160067).

“I am very encouraged” that lawmakers have recognized “we’ve got to go big” on broadband funding in any infrastructure package, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield told us. Clyburn and Klobuchar focused in HR-1783/S-745 "on how you not only meet the current needs of what’s going on” during the pandemic “but how we also meet the future needs of consumers,” including “holding recipients accountable” for deploying broadband as promised, Bloomfield said. “It’s a really good starting point.”

Bloomfield also has concerns. HR-1783/S-745 is a “really big” proposal that goes beyond just funding matters to include “everything from price transparency to Wi-Fi on buses to digital equity programs,” she said. “There’s probably some areas where we would hope to be able to continue to work with them” to revise those plans. Bloomfield cited language on price transparency as a potential sticking point: “Anytime you talk about price transparency, what does that mean?” Bloomfield noted concerns that “when you get a large-dollar initiative, you attract folks who aren’t necessarily committed in the long run.” There should be “some due diligence that could be done upfront” to ensure “the funding’s going where it needs to go,” she said.

Capito and other lawmakers bowed or floated additional broadband proposals Tuesday. Capito said during the Senate Broadband Caucus virtual event that she and Klobuchar plan to refile their Every Child Connected Act. The measure, first filed in December (see 2012160054), would use the money the FTC collects for FTC Act Section 5 and privacy violations to fund E-rate. It would require the FCC to redefine “classroom” for E-rate funding purposes to include at-home distance learning.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, showed interest during the event in business models that allow ISPs to use municipal broadband infrastructure and “compete with one another for who can deliver the best set of services to the community. It seems to me that’s a promising development.” Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen noted several instances where that concept is already a reality, including beginning work in West Virginia.

Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, refiled the Broadband Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. HR-1700, like previous versions, would allocate $5 billion for a proposed NTIA program for communities and public-private partnerships. That's included in HR-1783/S-745 and HR-1848. "We are investing in our communities’ futures while also providing new economic opportunities presently," McNerney said.