House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon and some other Communications Subcommittee Republicans appeared hesitant during a Thursday hearing to support swift advancement of the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926) or other resiliency bills. There was more widespread support by lawmakers and witnesses for the Fee Integrity and Responsibilities and To Regain Essential Spectrum for Public-safety Operators Needed to Deploy Equipment Reliably (First Responders) Act (HR-5928) and other measures.
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
Two top House Appropriations Committee Democrats told America’s Public Television Stations Wednesday they intend to again prevent a proposed drawdown of federal CPB funding for FY 2021. President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month again proposed to zero out the funding (see 2002100056) over two years. CPB federal funding rose $20 million for FY 2020, the first increase in a decade (see 1912170052). Opponents of federal CPB money “lose every time” they try to zero it out “and they’re going to lose again” this year, said House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey of New York. A funding drawdown “is not going to happen,” said Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. “It might be a fight every year, but that’s all right.” She noted the final FY 2020 increase for CPB was $30 million below the amount the House originally allocated (see 1903190033), but still a significant hike. APTS is again seeking a $50 million increase for FY 2020. CEO Patrick Butler believes a larger hike might face difficulties (see 2002240044). DeLauro told us she’s “not going to speculate” on whether a further funding increase is feasible this year, but “we’re going to fight” for every extra “dollar we can.” Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus co-Chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is confident there’s “no chance” Congress passes an FY 2021 appropriations measure that defunds CPB. Blumenauer, former House Commerce Committee Chairman and current Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., are seeking other House members’ support on draft letter (see 2002250067) urging House Appropriations to increase CPB appropriations to $515 million. “While we deeply appreciate” the $20 million hike approved in FY 2020, “a prior decade of level funding still leaves the program $80 million behind where the [CPB] system was” 10 years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the lawmakers say. Upton and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, also noted during the event their commitment to seeking bipartisan agreement on CPB funding.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders are eyeing an early March markup for the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926) and at least some of the seven other public safety communications measures it will examine Thursday (see 2002200060), industry lobbyists told us. Communications and public safety stakeholders endorsed several of the measures in written testimony. HR-5926 didn’t get universal praise. The hearing begins at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., urged the FCC to “resolve” consideration of Ligado's L-band license modifications. She urged all federal agencies to “come to the table” on reassessing their spectrum needs to help bolster the U.S. position in the race against other countries for dominance in 5G development. FCC proceedings on a C-band auction plan (see 2002250076) and TV white spaces NPRM (see 2002250068) also came up at Tuesday's American Consumer Institute event.
NAB members readied Monday for Capitol Hill meetings on the industry group’s 2020 legislative priorities, including their position on the FCC’s plans for auctioning spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band and restoring the minority tax certificate program. NAB CEO Gordon Smith and others lauded the group’s recent legislative victories, including Congress scaling back the distant-signal compulsory license during the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization last year (see 1912190068). Matthew Berry, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s chief of staff, continued to tease a potential commission appeal to the Supreme Court of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' Prometheus IV decision.
Reps. Donald McEachin and Abigail Spanberger, both D-Va., touted existing broadband legislation and sought input on additional measures during a Thursday event in Disputanta, Virginia. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted his ongoing concerns about updated language in the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that won’t prevent ISPs that win bids for program funding from seeking additional support from state broadband programs but bars census block groups that received state subsidies for 25/3 Mbps from participation (see 2002070031). Industry and local representatives highlighted other barriers to rural broadband deployments.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is already expanding beyond the recently released “Version 1.0”of its privacy framework, including plans to create a “guide to help small and medium-sized businesses build in privacy” using the document, said Director Walter Copan at a Wednesday Center for Strategic and International Studies event. The framework, released last month, provides a set of privacy protection practices for companies and other entities to use, along with related risk management strategies. The framework can provide a guide for federal and state lawmakers as they aim to enact privacy standards, though NIST has been careful to stress its document is meant to be entirely voluntary, officials said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters Thursday he reached a deal to allow the chamber to pass the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) by unanimous consent (UC) after the upcoming Presidents Day recess. The House-passed bill would allocate at least $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security. Meanwhile, Huawei faces 16 DOJ charges it violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and stole trade secrets from six U.S. companies (see 2002130030).
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters Thursday he plans to again meet with or talk to President Donald Trump to express his renewed ire about the FCC’s direction in planning an auction of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Kennedy railed against FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s current C-band auction plan during a Senate floor speech, criticizing the proposal to allocate about $15 billion of sale proceeds for relocation and incentive payments to incumbents on the frequency (see 2002060057). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she's supporting Kennedy’s C-band centric Spectrum Management And Reallocation for Taxpayers (Smart) Act (S-3246).
Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va., urged the FCC Wednesday to act on allowing sharing of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. Top tech-sector companies -- including Amazon, Facebook and Google -- also jointly urged the FCC to designate 1,200 MHz of spectrum on the band for unlicensed use. The companies cautioned against allocating the band's upper part for exclusive-use licenses, as CTIA and others have proposed (see 1902190005). Ericsson lobbied lawmakers last year to file and pass legislation that would require the FCC to adopt such a plan (see 1910090051). The FCC should make the 6 GHz available for unlicensed use “in a way that protects incumbent users operating in the band from harmful interference,” McNerney and Griffith wrote Chairman Ajit Pai. “The 6 GHz band’s greatest potential would be realized by unlocking all 1200 MHz of the band for unlicensed use -- this would foster innovation and greatly benefit American consumers and our nation’s economy.” Licensing “a portion of this band would undermine, not support, our next-generation wireless future,” Amazon and others wrote Pai, posted Wednesday. “Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use is also the fastest way to get additional spectrum suitable for next-generation wireless into the hands of American consumers. In contrast, relocating 6 GHz incumbents to a federal band that has not yet been studied for sharing and then proceeding to auction ... will take years and significantly disrupt incumbents.” The group of pro-sharing entities also includes the American Library Association, Benton Foundation, Boingo, Broadcom, Charter Communications, Cisco, Comcast, HP, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Wi-Fi Alliance. Boeing separately supported unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band above a 10,000-foot altitude, saying interference with other aircraft systems “would be negligible.” No “reason exists to prohibit the operation of unlicensed 6 GHz devices on aircraft or to require such devices to employ” automated frequency coordination technologies, the manufacturer filed in docket 18-295.