Senate Dems Eye $45B Connectivity for Reconciliation

Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are considering proposing $45 billion of the $83.1 billion the chamber allocated to the panel for its portion of the coming budget reconciliation package (see 2108100062) be used for next-generation 911 and broadband. House Commerce Committee leaders, meanwhile, are gearing up for a planned Sept. 13 markup of the panel’s reconciliation priorities. That measure is likely to draw from broadband and NG-911 language in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-1848), lobbyists told us.

About $20 billion from Senate Commerce’s part of the reconciliation package should go toward “broadband deployment and affordability” programs, the committee said in a draft proposal. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, panel Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico are among the 11 Democrats pressing for the $20 billion. Senate Democrats want to pursue additional broadband money in future legislation to supplement the $65 billion in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684).

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., seeks $10 billion for NG-911. Advocates identified the reconciliation package as a prime candidate to enact NG-911 funding after the Senate didn’t include any money for the technology in HR-3684 (see 2108240058). Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wants $10 billion for E-rate via an FCC emergency connectivity fund expansion. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., seeks $10 billion to subsidize internet-enabled devices. Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, and Cantwell want $2 billion to aid FTC enforcement. Fourteen Democratic senators are seeking $2.21 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

A Senate Commerce aide cautioned that the committee's proposal “is not final.” The amounts of money proposed remain “subject to change,” the official said.

Senate Commerce’s proposal is one of several circulating on Capitol Hill as Democratic lawmakers haggle over the reconciliation package's details, lobbyists told us. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hopes to have those talks settled by Friday, Hill aides said. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Thursday sought a "strategic pause" in work on the measure, restating his opposition to the $3.5 trillion Democrats propose spending.

“We got 65% of what we wanted” for connectivity via HR-3684 and “we’ll work with what we’ve got” rather than seek to amend the Senate-passed language, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in an interview. The $35 billion Senate Commerce wants to allocate for broadband and related device spending mirrors the additional money that would be needed to fully realize the original $100 billion connectivity proposal President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats originally sought (see 2103110060), lobbyists said. A House vote on HR-3684 is expected by Sept. 27.

Expectations

“It’s too early to say” what if any additional money House Commerce might seek to allocate for telecom priorities via reconciliation, though improving broadband affordability remains a major concern, Doyle said. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., is among those who have raised concerns with HR-3684’s proposal to reduce the amount of monthly subsidy in an extended version of the FCC’s emergency broadband benefit to $30 from the current $50 (see 2108100062). House Commerce is weighing whether to include the additional $20 monthly benefit in its reconciliation bill, lobbyists said.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., told us she’s “delighted” with the amount of broadband money included in HR-3684. She believes lawmakers should take an opportunity to seek additional spending via reconciliation. She emphasized the importance of keeping increased broadband speed requirements in the infrastructure package. HR-3684 requires recipients of money from a proposed $42.5 billion NTIA-administered state-level grants program to provide 100/20 Mbps speeds (see 2107290061).

House Communications ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio echoed fellow Republicans’ opposition to Democrats’ broad reconciliation plans and told us he wants House Commerce to conduct its own review of the Senate-passed HR-3684. “We really didn’t have anything to do with the legislation that’s coming over” from the Senate, he said: House members need to ensure any money for broadband “goes where it’s needed.” Latta believes greater safeguards need to be in place for the money that’s being spent in HR-3684.

House Commerce will have to balance telecom interests against a broader range of policy matters than Senate Commerce, which could constrict the amount it can spend on any issue, House aides said. Senate Concurrent Resolution 14, a reconciliation blueprint, allocated House Commerce $486.5 billion.

House Commerce is certain to include NG-911 money in its portion of the package given its absence from HR-3684, aides and lobbyists said. Democrats are eyeing other ways to incorporate elements of HR-1848 into its reconciliation legislation, lobbyists said.

“Everybody is negotiating” on the reconciliation bill, which is unlikely to ultimately include much broadband money, said New Street’s Blair Levin. He expects the measure to include some NG-911 funding. HR-3684 “has already” addressed funding for broadband deployments and affordability aid, so that matter appears to be “off the table” given statements by Biden and Senate Democrats pledging that there wouldn’t be a “second bite at the apple” via reconciliation on issues the bipartisan package addressed, Levin said.