The House Commerce Committee is “working hard” to ready the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Broadband Data) Act broadband mapping legislative package (HR-4229) and the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) for floor votes as soon as next week in a bid to follow through on a deal to pass them in tandem with the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151), a spokesperson said. The House cleared S-151 last week on a 417-3 vote (see 1912040028). House Commerce advanced HR-4229 and HR-4998 in November (see 1911210057). Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged in an interview that “we’ve got a couple of bills that are linked” with S-151 for simultaneous floor action. The deal could complicate Thune’s bid to swiftly move S-151 through the Senate via unanimous consent following what he believes is an end (see 1912110038) to concerns voiced by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., also cited the need for the House to follow through on the previously-reached “three-bill agreement.” Senate Commerce advanced HR-4229 companion S-1822 in July (see 1907240061), along with the U.S. 5G Leadership Act (S-1625), which like HR-4998 would provide funding to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security.
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
Hill lawmakers' communications policy aspirations for a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Dec. 20 took simultaneous steps forward and back Tuesday and Wednesday. Congressional leaders finalized an expected deal to attach language from two House-side Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bills into the funding extension measure (see 1912090051). A contentious Senate Commerce Committee markup of the 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) and other factors, meanwhile, raised doubts about the prospects of using the CR to weigh in on a planned FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1912100001).
Hill lawmakers are pushing to insert major telecom priorities into a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Dec. 20, with some items appearing to be closer to the finish line than others. Leaders are nearing a deal to attach Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization language to the CR derived entirely from a pair of House-side measures. The House passed one of those bills, the Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035), on a voice vote Tuesday.
Congressional leaders appeared very close to an agreement Monday afternoon on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., also confirmed to reporters Monday they were nearing a deal. The House is set to vote Tuesday on the House Commerce Committee-cleared Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035). That bill would make permanent STELA's good-faith retransmission consent negotiations requirement and continue to allow importing distant signals under the compulsory license (see 1911200048). The potential compromise between HR-5035 and other STELA bills draws language from the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (HR-5140), which would make permanent STELA's distant-signal compulsory license language but limit its scope to cover only trucks, RVs and households in short markets. Graham and others said Hill leaders are seeking to jettison language added during House Judiciary Committee markup of HR-5140 by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., that expands beyond the originally proposed 120 days the limited extension of the distant-signal license for categories of subscribers that would be removed from the license (see 1911210052). Lofgren wanted the initial window to be six months. A satellite company could then apply for a theoretically unlimited number of 90-day extensions as long as it files a notice with the Copyright Office proving it acted “reasonably and in good faith” to provide coverage to all markets.
FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra told states’ attorneys general Monday “the ball really is in” their court to go deeper in their investigations of Facebook, which he hopes will delve further into the social media company’s data privacy practices than the FTC’s recently concluded probe. Commissioners voted 3-2 in July to approve a settlement with Facebook, which agreed to pay $5 billion and install an independent privacy committee to oversee compliance. Chopra and fellow Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter voted against the settlement (see 1907240042). GOP Commissioner Christine Wilson defended the strength of the FTC settlement during a National Association of Attorneys General conference.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., isn't foreclosing the possibility of a deal to advance Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation out of the committee at a coming markup session. Other Senate Commerce members told us they believe it's going to be difficult to reach an agreement soon. Some want to attach short-term renewal language to must-pass legislation in a bid to extend negotiations. Wicker and others are also closely eyeing a pair of House STELA bills that are awaiting formal combination before floor action. The law expires Dec. 31.
House Communications Subcommittee members from both parties grilled FCC commissioners during a Thursday hearing on recent actions, including the commission's long-running investigation into wireless carriers' location tracking practices (see 1805240073), and what some deemed Chairman Ajit Pai's failure to adequately loop legislators in on his plans. Pai was praised on his proposal for a public auction of spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, as expected (see 1912040028). House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and others drilled in further on C-band plans, with an eye to advancing legislation (see 1911210056).
The House Communications Subcommittee's Thursday FCC oversight hearing is expected to include criticism of commission actions and a focus on telecom policy priorities like deciding how to allocate proceeds from a coming auction of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, said lawmakers and others in interviews. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the other four commissioners are to testify during the panel, which will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The hearing will happen a day after the House easily passed another FCC-related policy priority, the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Monday push for Congress to repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 could help spur lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to address the longstanding issue, said stakeholders in interviews. Congressional T-band action isn't expected at least until after the start of 2020, given a backlog of other priorities and broader political issues, lobbyists said. The GAO recommended in June that Congress consider letting public safety incumbents continue to use the T band amid a lack of feasible alternative spectrum (see 1906210050).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon is the most recent in a string of six Communications Subcommittee Republican members who say they won't seek re-election in 2020 (see 1910280020). At the least, just less than half of the subcommittee's GOP roster is leaving at the end of this Congress. That turnover could present opportunities for remaining Republican veterans like House Communications ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio to have even more influence over telecom policymaking beginning in 2021. Some officials and experts we interviewed question how that will change the process.