House Appropriations Eyes Interagency Spectrum Fixes via FCC Funding Bill

House Appropriations' Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee advanced on a voice vote Wednesday its FY2023 bill, which includes funding hikes for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division. The full committee voted 31-26 along party lines Thursday to advance its FY23 Agriculture bill, which includes $560 million in rural broadband funding for the Agriculture Department. The panel voted 32-26 along party lines Wednesday to advance its FY23 Legislative Branch bill with a slight increase in congressional funding for the Copyright Office. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee was expected to vote Thursday night on its proposal to again increase CPB's annual funding.

House Appropriations is "encouraged " by the FCC-NTIA spectrum coordination agreement, but additional steps are needed. They include "promptly implementing the relevant recommendations" from a 2021 Government Accountability Office report that found deficiencies in existing interagency collaboration (see 2107190067), "developing engineering tools and techniques to resolve disputes in an evidence-based manner, and working with agencies to implement receiver hardening and other techniques to mitigate out-of-band interference concerns," the committee said.

The committee noted concerns "that the FCC has authorized unlicensed use of the 6 gigahertz band, but it has not fully evaluated the risk of harmful interference to important public safety and critical infrastructure communications systems." The panel "is particularly concerned about potential effects on public safety communications and the reliability of the electric transmission and distribution system." It "directs the FCC to collaborate with public safety entities and other incumbent users of the spectrum to promptly and rigorously test" 6 GHz devices "to evaluate the risk of harmful interference and ability to quickly identify and eliminate any interference that occurs." The FCC would be required to brief House Appropriations within 90 days of the funding bill's enactment "on the results of any completed testing."

House Appropriations "looks forward to reviewing the final funding allocations for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act Reimbursement Program and notes the FCC has a statutory obligation to disburse funds first to approved applicants that have" 2 million or fewer "customers for removal and replacement of covered communications equipment." The FCC expects to complete its review of amended rip and replace applications by July 15 and can report to Congress soon after (see 2206160073). The House Communications Subcommittee amended the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) last week to allocate $3.4 billion in sales from the 3.1-3.45 GHz auction the measure would authorize payment for the current estimated gap between the $1.9 billion Congress originally appropriated to the rip and replace program and total reimbursement requests (see 2206150067).

Other Funding

House Appropriations Commerce proposes giving NTIA $62 million. That’s 8% less than what President Joe Biden proposed in March (see 2203280069) but 24% more than the agency got in the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations law. The National Institute of Standards and Technology would get more than $1.47 billion, less than 1% more than Biden sought and almost 20% above what the agency got in FY22. Subpanel Chairman Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., said during the markup the measure “strengthens American technological and scientific competitiveness by providing” the NIST funding increase.

The Patent Office would get $4.25 billion, in line with Biden’s proposal and almost 5% above its FY22 appropriation (see 2203090068). The Bureau of Industry and Security would get almost $191.4 million, 4% less than the White House request and more than 35% above what it got in regular FY22 funding. DOJ Antitrust would get $230 million, down almost 16% from what Biden proposed but 19% more than what it got in FY22.

House Appropriations ranking member Kay Granger, R-Texas, hailed the Commerce bill for investing in “cutting-edge research and technology,” though she and other Republicans criticized other aspects. Commerce ranking member Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said the measure advances “scientific research into areas of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, 5G research and advanced manufacturing.

House Appropriations proposes $450 million for USDA's ReConnect program, in line with what Congress allocated for FY22. An accompanying report includes a laundry list of mandated and suggested improvements to ReConnect. The committee directs USDA to “establish a scoring criterion” for ReConnect applications “that prioritizes serving the hardest to reach, unserved and underserved rural communities.” Appropriations would mandate that Rural Utilities Service Telecommunications Program not award money “in any areas, study areas or census blocks where a recipient of FCC High-Cost USF support is already subject to a buildout obligation of 25/3 Mbps or greater for fixed terrestrial broadband, except that RUS Telecommunication Program funds may be awarded in such areas to help finance construction of the network.”

House Appropriations urges USDA to continue “partnerships with other Federal agencies to review various Federal broadband program requirements in efforts to better understand program nuances and promote harmonization of Federal broadband application processes.” The committee noted “certain burdens facing small telecommunication providers in rural America that seek financial assistance through ReConnect. Rural broadband providers are community institutions that are leading the way to close the digital divide. Government assistance programs should not further complicate these small companies with costly applications and confusing regulatory compliance requirements.”

The Labor, Health and Human Services bill would increase CPB's annual funding to $565 million beginning in FY 2025. That's on par with what the Biden administration sought and more than 7% above what it received for FY 2024 as part of the FY22 omnibus. America's Public Television Stations has been urging Congress to increase the CPB funding to $565 million (see 2202280068).

The FY23 Legislative Branch measure sets the CO’s budget at $100.67 million. $53.76 million of the CO funding would come from congressional appropriations, in line with Biden’s request and 1% more than CO got in FY22. House Appropriations said in its report on the bill it “continues to support” CO’s “efforts to modernize its IT infrastructure to effectively serve users and copyright owners in the 21st century.” The panel encouraged the Library of Congress “to remain sensitive to” CO’s “specialized requirements” as it “implements its IT modernization plan in conjunction with the overall Library IT modernization effort.” Appropriations expects LOC to “continue to defer to the copyright expertise of the Register of Copyrights and to ensure direct consultation between” CO and Congress.