House OKs Telecom, Tech FY23 NDAA Amendments; No FCC Amendments to Funding Bill

The House passed the Active Shooter Alert Act (HR-6538) Wednesday night on a 260-169 vote. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington was among 43 Republicans who voted for the measure. HR-6538 would direct DOJ to create a national active shooter alert system that would use the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (see 2206210048). House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued during floor debate that the measure was repetitive given "federal, state and local officials already use" IPAWS "to send emergency alerts to mobile devices and to alert media platforms."

House lawmakers voted by voice Wednesday to approve an amendment from House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Rick Larsen, D-Wash.; House Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I.; and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., to require DOD to provide an “unclassified version” of its spectrum strategy implementation plan (see 2010290061) in all future updates to the plan and “strengthen governance reforms to ensure necessary senior operational leadership.”

The chamber voted 362-64 on an en bloc package that included language led by Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., that proposes requiring the Air Force to identify opportunities to deploy stratospheric balloons, aerostats or satellite technology capable of rapidly delivering wireless internet anywhere on the planet from high altitudes. Reps. Michael Guest, R-Miss., and Sam Graves, R-Mo., saw lawmakers approve 277-150 their proposal to remove barriers preventing rural communities from using Commerce Department Economic Development Authority grants to pay for broadband projects as part of an en bloc amendments package.

The House approved by voice a bid from Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., to attach her 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (HR-2351), which would change classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to protective service. The House previously included HR-2351’s language in its version of the FY 2022 NDAA (see 2109220069).

Other amendments the House approved include one from House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., ordering the State Department to give Congress a report analyzing the effects of government-ordered internet or telecom network shutdowns on human rights and global security. House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee Chairwoman Val Demings, D-Fla., and Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., want to allocate $5 million to OTF annually through FY 2027 to make grants aimed at maintaining support for internet freedom technologies to counter censorship in closed countries.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., succeeded in attaching his CISA Leadership Act (HR-5186), which would set the agency director’s term at five years and give the Senate power to confirm future nominees. Malinowski and Garbarino propose requiring CISA maintain a publicly available clearinghouse of resources on the cybersecurity of commercial satellite systems. Langevin wants the federal government to designate certain critical infrastructure entities as “systemically important” to the continuity of national critical functions and establishes unique benefits and requirements for such entities.

International, Privacy

Reps. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, succeeded in their bid for language to create the National Digital Reserves Corps to allow private sector cybersecurity, AI and digital experts to temporarily work for the federal government. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., won on an amendment to require DOD to coordinate with the State Department on a report on State-designated foreign terrorist groups’ use of social media and the threat posed by online radicalization. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., proposes strengthening the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s ability to provide meaningful oversight of AI for counterterrorism purposes.

Reps. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., and David Cicilline, D-R.I., got approval of their amendment directing State to negotiate a multilateral agreement with the Group of Seven and other allies to establish an independent international center for research on the information environment that would measure the impact of the content moderation, product design decisions and algorithms of online platforms on society. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, proposes requiring State to report on “what is needed to provide access to free and uncensored media in the Chinese market.”

Malinowski and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., got voice approval of their amendment barring federal agencies from encouraging weakening encryption or inserting backdoors on commercially-available phones, computers, and devices. The House passed similar language in its version of the FY22 NDAA. Malinowski and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., seek a Treasury Department report on the Iranian government’s use of digital surveillance and censorship of the internet and an assessment of whether alterations to existing general licenses are needed to support Iranians’ access to the internet.

Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, want a DOD report that details the department’s purchase and use of location data “generated by phones that are likely to be located in” the U.S. and “their internet metadata.” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., proposes to make it illegal to distribute “intimate” images of a person “with knowledge of or reckless disregard for the lack of consent of the individual to the distribution.”

Appropriations

The only proposed amendments to HR-8294 that would affect the FCC are proposals from Reps. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., to cut down overall funding levels drawn from the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee’s bill, which includes FCC and FTC funding. The Appropriations Committee proposes giving the FCC $390 million and the FTC $490 million (see 2206270061). Hern proposes cutting funding from the Financial Services division by 22%; Norman seeks a 5% cut. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., proposes blocking Financial Services funding D from being used to direct, encourage or otherwise coerce social media companies to de-platform users or rate the authenticity of content. It would also bar funding for the government to share analytics data on specific groups of users, or certain topic areas, without a search warrant.

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, proposes increasing funding for the Agriculture Department Rural Utilities Service’s distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program by $50 million by cutting an equal amount from the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wants to remove federal funding for National Public Radio.

FTC-focused amendments include a proposal from Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., to bar disbursing FTC funding until the commission ends the suspension of granting early termination to filings made under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Fitzgerald proposed withholding funding until the FTC reinstates the 1995 mergers policy statement it rescinded in July 2021 (see 2107210061) and rolls back the competition enforcement principles it adopted that same month.

Fitzgerald also wants to bar FTC funding from being used to promulgate any rule defining or describing unfair methods of competition. Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., proposes language to encourage the FTC to continue using its existing authority to protect consumers’ right to repair and hold accountable companies who engage in the anti-competitive conduct of limiting repairs by consumers.

Gottheimer proposes increasing the Treasury Department’s funding by $1 million to support efforts to study the potential interaction between central bank digital currencies and privately issued stablecoins. He and Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., seek to increase Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence funding to support efforts to counter criminal and terrorist groups via improved blockchain analysis tools, training on cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency-related investigations.