The House Commerce Committee extended the deadline for eight CEOs of top tech and telecom firms to commit to testifying at a planned Sept. 7 hearing aimed at reaching a consensus on net neutrality, a spokesman confirmed Monday. House Commerce originally gave the CEOs of Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, Facebook, Netflix and Verizon until Monday to respond (see 1707250059). The committee “has been engaging in productive conversations with all parties and will extend the deadline for response in order to allow for those discussions to continue,” the spokesman said. The deadline extension is “unspecified” for now, he said. None of the eight invited CEOs reportedly had made a final commitment at our deadline to testify and none of the companies commented. House Commerce is seeking feedback from the invited companies and other stakeholders on the contours of a “bipartisan legislative solution” on net neutrality, with a 2015 discussion draft crafted by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., now-House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and then-committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich. (see 1506040046), as a starting point. Walden “has no interest in wasting anyone's time in this process,” said House Communications Subcommittee Chief GOP Counsel Robin Colwell in an email to stakeholders we obtained. The committee is asking stakeholders to identify “what needs to stay, what needs to be added, and what needs to go” from the 2015 draft to reach a consensus. House Commerce staff plan to meet with interested parties Aug. 7 about how to modify the 2015 draft, with the aim of determining by the end of that week “whether there is any chance of moving forward together,” Colwell said in the email. Perceived prospects for a compromise bill have remained dim this year amid significant opposition from many high-ranking congressional Democrats, though a few of the party’s lawmakers called publicly for consensus legislation (see 1707130063 and 1707210038).
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
Senate Democrats' search for a candidate to succeed FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn if she decides to exit remains wide open, though lawmakers have candidate qualities in mind, lobbyists and former officials told us. Clyburn hasn't announced any plans, and her current term ended June 30. Clyburn can stay likely until the end of this Congress unless succeeded by another Democratic commissioner.
A bid by Senate Democrats to get Republican leaders' assurance that a possible successor to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will get a confirmation vote at a later date appears to be part of negotiations aimed at including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and two other commission nominees in a package of nominees up for a full Senate vote before August recess, lobbyists told us. Should Clyburn leave, lobbyists and government officials said Joey Wender, an aide to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is among those who has been under consideration. There's no clear frontrunner.
Net neutrality played a lead role during a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee FCC oversight hearing amid bids by Republicans and Democrats to spin the issue. House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., led House Communications Republicans in calling for bipartisan legislation to settle the debate. Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and subcommittee Democrats criticized the majority-GOP FCC NPRM to re-examine 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, saying rollback appears to be a foregone conclusion. House Communications tackled a range of other telecom policy hot spots, including a draft FCC reauthorization bill from Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., media ownership and spectrum allocation issues, as expected (see 1707240052).
The Senate Commerce Committee tentatively plans an Aug. 2 markup on nominations of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, commissioner nominees Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel and other nominees, committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us Wednesday. Meanwhile, Committee Democrats seek some deal on the FCC nominees that would assuage their concerns about how Senate Commerce would handle a possible Democratic nominee to replace current Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pushed back Monday against a report in The New York Times that President Donald Trump's administration was slowing its work on an infrastructure plan expected to include a section on broadband deployment. Blackburn told reporters she believes the infrastructure plan remains a top priority for the administration and that the White House views broadband as “the No. 1 infrastructure issue. Of course, you've got roads and bridges and airports” teed up as other important infrastructure issues, but local politicians are focusing on broadband. Blackburn is hopeful Congress can tackle infrastructure legislation in the fall, once it finishes work on the FY 2018 federal budget. Blackburn emphasized during a Brookings Institution event that public-private partnerships, along with state and local funding, would be primary drivers for broadband investment as part of a broader infrastructure plan. Federal grants will be used to “finish” funding for broadband projects, with money primarily targeted at unserved areas, she said. A broadband title will need to include language to eliminate regulatory barriers to encourage investment in deployment, including for siting and permits, Blackburn said. She noted House Communications' June hearing on broadband speed mapping and other barriers to deployment (see 1706210059) as evidence that Congress should address those issues, “to set the right foundation” in advance of an infrastructure package. Blackburn sees net neutrality legislation as a way of providing “certainty” ahead of an infrastructure package. She urged House Democrats “to work with us” on net neutrality, hoping there won't be a “one-sided conversation.” Many telecom-focused congressional Democrats don't believe a bipartisan net neutrality bill is possible, possibly at all this Congress (see 1707130063 and 1707210038).
The tone of the House Communications Subcommittee’s Tuesday FCC oversight hearing is likely to turn on the degree to which Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and other Republicans focus on Blackburn’s draft FCC reauthorization bill at the expense of other hot-button policy issues, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Democrats are likely to air pent-up grievances about controversial topics, particularly the May NPRM examining 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats repeatedly referenced their concerns about a potential rollback of the rules amid a confirmation hearing last week for Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner nominees Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1707190049). Pai and FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly are to testify at the hearing, which will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
A handful of congressional Democrats have publicly bucked their party’s overall resistance to negotiating with the Republican majority on net neutrality legislation, and they are unlikely to bring their colleagues back to the bargaining table soon, lobbyists told us. Top telecom-focused Capitol Hill Democrats, including Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., have signaled their party’s lack of short-term appetite for legislation amid FCC possible rollback of 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers under Communications Act Title II (see 1707130063). Some meanwhile wonder if the FCC will OK new rules based on Communications Act Section 706 authority (see 1707210040).
Senate Communications Subcommittee members were hopeful FirstNet and AT&T can sustain recent momentum in building the nationwide public safety broadband network, as they probed the public-private partnership's ability to effectively reach rural areas, ensure network resiliency and provide oversight of the project. The rollout ramped up in the months since the Department of Commerce chose AT&T as the lead partner (see 1703300007 and 1706280029). Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Virginia and Wyoming so far opted in (see 1707100062, 1707110059, 1707130067 and 1707180029). The network Friday will unveil an environmental impact statement for the West (see 1707200037).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., released a draft FCC reauthorization bill Tuesday night that would in part freeze funding at $322 million. That's an $18 million drop from the FCC's existing $340 million funding level but corresponds with what the White House and the House Appropriations Committee proposed for funding in FY 2018 (see 1705230041 and 1707140056). The bill also would institute several GOP-sought FCC process reforms, including requiring the commission to enter a rulemaking to codify Chairman Ajit Pai's pilot project to make draft agenda items public three weeks before commissioners' meetings (see 1702020051). Blackburn is likely to discuss the draft during House Communications' planned FCC oversight hearing, two communications sector lobbyists told us. The subcommittee confirmed the hearing will be July 25, as expected (see 1707180041). The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.