New Reconciliation Draft Reduces Connectivity Money

House leaders floated the the revised HR-5376, which reduces overall spending from an original $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion, after President Joe Biden pressed the Democratic caucus during a meeting to agree to support it. The timeline for a House vote on the related Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) remained uncertain amid resistance from Congressional Progressive Caucus members to advancing the measure without a firm deal on HR-5376.

HR-5376 includes $470 million for NG-911 through FY 2031, less than 5% of the $10 billion House Commerce proposed in September (see 2109140063). It would allocate $20 million for NTIA to administer the program and $1 million for the agency to set up a Public Safety NG-911 Advisory Board. The measure would allocate an additional $300 million for ECF, about 7% of the $4 billion House Commerce sought. The ECF money would be available through FY 2030 and should be disbursed “regardless of whether those costs are incurred during” the COVID-19 pandemic originally used to justify the program’s creation.

HR-5376 has $500 million for a new FTC data privacy and security bureau, half the $1 billion House Commerce sought. The FTC should use the money in part for “hiring and retaining technologists, user experience designers, and other experts” to help the bureau “accomplish its work related to unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to privacy, data security, identity theft, data abuses” and related matters, the bill says.

Senate Adds

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats added $295 million through FY 2031 for NTIA to disburse “grants to covered public-private partnerships for pilot projects to increase access to affordable covered broadband service in urban communities.” HR-3684 includes $14 billion for FCC affordability programs.

HR-5376 includes $100 million for FCC outreach through FY 2031 to raise public awareness about the emergency broadband benefit and other communications affordability programs. There’s also $5 million for NTIA to establish an Affordable Urban and Suburban Broadband Advisory Committee to advise the Commerce Department, FCC and lawmakers “on ways to make broadband more affordable for urban and suburban broadband subscribers, including for communities of color and low- and middle-income consumers, through long-term solutions.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., attached $475 million for NTIA “connected device” vouchers to low-income households. That’s less than 5% of what he originally eyed and less than 10% of the money he proposed in the Device Access for Every American Act (HR-5257/S-2729). The measure would have $20 million for NTIA to administer the program and $5 million to do outreach.

HR-5376 would allocate $1.5 billion to create a new National Science Foundation technology directorate, something previously sought via the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) and a set of House bills. Work to reach a deal on the measures remains stalled. The bill jettisons language to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, as expected. It includes a provision House Commerce previously excised from its proposal to create a Future of Telecommunications Council to provide recommendations on how to ensure U.S. leadership in developing standards for 6G and other wireless technologies.

Lawmakers included at least two tech-focused tax credits in HR-5376. One sought by the House Ways and Means Committee would create a 30% tax credit for municipal, state and tribal government-owned broadband networks’ operations. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., added a 25% “advanced manufacturing investment credit” aimed at bolstering U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.

Political Divide

“We didn’t want” the telecom money in HR-5376 reduced, but there were cuts to many items in the reconciliation package, Cantwell said in an interview. “We feel like there’s affordability issues in broadband” that even the money in HR-3684 and HR-5376 can’t completely address. “We’re going to work on a much bigger broadband scheme to deal with the affordability issue” and Senate Commerce is “going to tackle it,” she said.

Senate Commerce plans to “get started” on that measure this year but doesn’t anticipate advancing legislation until 2022, Cantwell said. “I don’t think there’s enough illumination yet because everyone looks at” the federal government’s broadband connectivity mapping issues “and they don’t understand how big the affordability problem is.”

Republicans are unlikely to support HR-5376, partly because the inclusion of broadband money in the measure effectively violates the bipartisan agreement on HR-3684, which includes $65 billion for connectivity, said Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. “I thought we already handled connectivity” money via HR-3684, he told us: “There’s been a lot of walking back lately” of bipartisan agreements “from our Democratic friends.”

Public Knowledge is “still digesting” HR-5376’s full text and “we’re excited” it includes some additional affordability and ECF money and Warnock’s device voucher program, said Government Affairs Director Greg Guice in an interview. He also pointed to the proposed $100 million for FCC EBB outreach. "We're very appreciative" of the affordability money Cantwell and other Democrats were able to include and "we're looking forward to working with them to plus up this funding over time" via potential Senate Commerce action, Guice said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California warned the Democratic caucus' liberal faction during a Thursday news conference not to "embarrass" Biden by voting against HR-3684. She and other leaders were seeking to pass that measure as soon as Thursday night. CPC members "intend to vote for both bills when" final HR-5376 text "is ready," said caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., likewise urged against a Thursday House vote on HR-3684 because there wasn't a final deal on HR-5376. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., praised the revised HR-5376 but didn’t specifically point to the proposed telecom money. “Overall,” HR-5376 “is a transformative investment in the American people and our future,” he said. “I urge my colleagues to support it.”