Communications lobbyists plan to monitor Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Tuesday markup of its FY 2020 funding bill to see if subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., files an amendment to require the FCC do a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Senate Appropriations Financial Services' annual budget bills include funding for the FCC and FTC. The House passed its version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC appropriations bill in June (see 1906260081). A Kennedy spokesperson said the senator's office “can’t offer a preview” of his markup plans. Kennedy is one of several lawmakers considering C-band-centric legislation amid FCC consideration of how to clear spectrum in that range for 5G use (see 1908230049). Kennedy repeatedly raised concerns about the C-Band Alliance’s proposal for a private auction to free up 200 MHz of C-band spectrum (see 1907190051). The markup will begin 2:15 p.m. in 124 Dirksen.
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
Additional broadcasting, consumer and tech industry groups urged DOJ not end or change the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees, in comments the department published Friday. Almost 900 entities commented on the consent decree review. They reflected divisions between industries evident in filings we reviewed in August (see 1908120045).
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said he believes talks on marrying elements of the House-passed Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375) and the Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151) are “going well” but negotiators are “still debating.” Chances for consensus appeared to improve in July because the House-passed version of HR-3375 moved closer to S-151's text (see 1907260072). “We think we've made good progress,” though remaining differences require further resolution, Thune said. Negotiators still aim to reach a deal during the September work period, a Thune aide said. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, meanwhile, promoted a Thursday editorial in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Journal Gazette that urged Congress to “resolve differences” between HR-3375 and S-151.
House Commerce Committee leaders and staff are working on legislation to help secure telecom networks using "suspect communications components,” as expected (see 1907220053), a committee spokesperson said. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., has been pursuing draft legislation to encourage rural carriers to remove equipment from Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE. The bill would “fund the replacement of suspect equipment and further prohibit the use of federal funds to purchase suspect network equipment going forward,” the committee spokesperson emailed Wednesday. The proposal could be used to codify the FCC's proposal to bar use of USF money to purchase from companies posing “a national security threat” (see 1812210032).
FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter welcomed state antitrust probes of Facebook and Google, during a Thursday Media Institute event. She also reinforced her opposition to the commission's recent settlements with the two tech giants on privacy issues. Slaughter and fellow Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra voted against the settlements (see 1907240042 and 1909040066). Slaughter broadly encouraged the FTC to do more on tech sector antitrust, stopping short of supporting a proposal by 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to break up big tech companies (see 1904170046).
House Communications Subcommittee members voiced near-universal interest in legislation to improve the federal government's collection of broadband coverage data, as expected (see 1909100064). Subcommittee members' support likely sets the stage for a swift potential markup of a combined bill soon. Witnesses backed a package that includes all or part of the five bills House Communications examined, including the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (HR-4229).
House Communications Subcommittee leaders appear to be eyeing ways to combine language from at least five bills on improving the federal government's collection of broadband coverage data, before a planned Wednesday hearing on the subject, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. The lawmakers are aiming to make progress on broadband mapping legislation, an issue that drew bipartisan interest. That's amid slower progress on other House Commerce Committee communications policy priorities to clear spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G and Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization (see 1908050037 and 1908230049).
A Tuesday House Oversight National Security Subcommittee-House Armed Services Intelligence Subcommittee hearing on internet infrastructure security aims to “ensure that departments and agencies have harmonized and deconflicted” programs and policies, the House Oversight Committee said Monday in a memo. Acting NTIA Administrator Diane Rinaldo, Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Assistant Director-Cybersecurity Jeanette Manfra and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense-Cyber Policy Ed Wilson will testify at the hearing, set for 2 p.m. in 2118 Rayburn (see 1909040075). Their written testimony wasn’t available Monday. House Armed Services and House Oversight also want the hearing to “encourage a whole-of-government approach to securing internet architecture” instead of “the current practice of dividing responsibilities among departments and creating stovepipes and seams in jurisdictions.” No “single government agency or entity is responsible for maintaining the security and reliability of the internet,” with the role currently being divided among three departments -- Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security -- and at least five other agencies, including the FCC, the memo said. “The complexity of overlapping mandates and jurisdictions has led departments and agencies to focus narrowly on discrete components or pieces of securing internet architecture.” That “overlooks the nature of the internet as a single ecosystem or system of systems, which given its’ [sic] importance to the nation, requires dedicated attention,” the memo said. House Oversight said a range of “recent incidents ... demonstrate the potential threats and vulnerabilities to U.S. internet architecture,” including a January DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency emergency directive that “warned federal agencies about a global [domain name system] hijacking campaign that included attackers redirecting and intercepting web and mail traffic. According to CISA, the campaign affected domains owned by multiple Executive Branch agencies.” U.S. military officials note "increased Russian submarine activity around undersea data cables in the Atlantic Ocean,” House Oversight said.
Rural broadband stakeholders urged the federal government to continue encouraging connectivity improvements via legislation and agency action, in written testimony for a Thursday Senate Commerce Committee field hearing. The hearing, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, wasn't webcast and footage wasn't immediately available. There's increased attention on broadband among 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls (see 1909040061). The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing next week on legislation to improve the federal government's collection of broadband coverage data (see 1909040080).
Leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates' proposals for major broadband funding likely signal a definitive end to hopes for enacting a long-sought infrastructure package before the next election, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. But focus on the issue is a net positive for the ongoing policy debate, they said. Experts question, though, whether attention to broadband as part of rural-focused campaign platforms will translate into a shift in support among those voters who moved away from Democrats in the 2016 election.