The Commerce Department last week released the final version of its guardrails for recipients of Chips Act funding, measures it said will prevent its semiconductor industry grants from being used to benefit certain “foreign countries of concern,” including China.

The House Financial Services Committee this week advanced a bill that would make USDA a permanent member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The Agricultural Security Risk Review Act, which passed the committee with bipartisan support, would address an “overdue” oversight in making the agency a formal part of all CFIUS reviews, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., said during a Sept. 20 committee markup. “While CFIUS is indeed a committee, it benefits from expertise and particular member agencies with relevant expertise,” he said. “Agriculture is too important to go neglected.”

The FCC voted Thursday to streamline satellite applications, provide spectrum for commercial space launches, limit robocaller access to phone numbers, and target a robocalling enterprise with a $116 million forfeiture. Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn’t attend the agency's open meeting, which is expected to be the last one with FCC’s current 2-2 makeup. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel declined to say what the agency’s path might be once she has a Democratic majority, “We had four members of the agency here today” and there will be “five in the not-too-distant future, so I would recommend you stay tuned,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. The agency also approved an order updating the 5G Fund for Rural America (see 2309210035).

The narrow targeting of Maryland’s so-called tax on digital ad revenue may suggest it’s primarily a punishment that federal courts are permitted to review under the U.S. Tax Injunction Act (TIA), 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julius Richardson said at oral argument Wednesday. The 4th Circuit is reviewing an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of the March 2022 decision by the U.S. District Court in Baltimore to dismiss the Chamber’s challenge of the tax, plus the district court’s December dismissal of the Chamber’s challenge to the tax’s pass-through ban (case 22-2275). The 4th Circuit should remand all counts back to district court, argued the Chamber’s attorney Michael Kimberly of McDermott Will.

The narrow targeting of Maryland’s so-called tax on digital ad revenue may suggest it’s primarily a punishment that federal courts are permitted to review under the U.S. Tax Injunction Act (TIA), 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julius Richardson said at oral argument Wednesday. The 4th Circuit is reviewing an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of the March 2022 decision by the U.S. District Court in Baltimore to dismiss the Chamber’s challenge of the tax, plus the district court’s December dismissal of the Chamber’s challenge to the tax’s pass-through ban (case 22-2275). The 4th Circuit should remand all counts back to district court, argued the Chamber’s attorney Michael Kimberly of McDermott Will.

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., underscored the need to lower tariffs through the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program for American businesses during high inflation at a hearing on reforming GSP, and asked his colleagues to "move forward with open minds and the urge to get things done."

A coalition of financial trade groups raised concerns with the FCC about its proposed rules to give consumers the ability to revoke prior express consent through any reasonable means under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2308150071). Use only session initiation protocol codes 608 and 603+ for labeling blocked calls, the American Bankers Association, ACA International, American Financial Services Association, Credit Union National Association and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions told an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr, per an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-97. The groups also warned that financial institutions and other companies may not be able to honor revocation requests within 24 hours because they may come from multiple channels rather than in a centralized manner. The groups expressed "strong support for actions to remove bad actors and illegal traffic from the network," saying it's "key that the legitimate, often critical, calls that our members place are completed."

Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee member Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., raised doubts during a Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY 2024 funding request (see 2309190001) about how much commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel prioritizes a push for fully funding the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Rosenworcel and others repeatedly prodded lawmakers this year to allocate an additional $3.08 billion to fully satisfy reimbursement costs for carriers beyond the initial $1.9 billion Congress originally allocated the program. Rosenworcel cited the commission’s statutory obligation to begin prorating those payments absent appropriations (see 2305040085). Still, the matter “must not be your highest priority” because “it’s not in your budget request,” Manchin told Rosenworcel Tuesday. Rosenworcel cited her past communications with lawmakers about rip and replace funding. “We have made it a priority and we’re working with the carriers that have it in their networks right now to identify a way forward” amid the shortfall, she said. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., noted Congress allocated the program’s $1.9 billion in the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus package as a “one-time expenditure” (see 2012210055). Lawmakers also hope to include language in a spectrum legislative package from the House Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) that would give the FCC the rip and replace money up front and use some future auction revenue to cover the loan (see 2305240069), Van Hollen said.

Telecom-focused congressional leaders are voicing interest in including a temporary restoration of the FCC’s auction authority in a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past the end of FY 2023 Sept. 30. Lobbyists and observers told us they remain doubtful about Capitol Hill’s appetite for such a move due to the factors that hindered talks on a broader spectrum legislative package (see 2308070001). Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee members sounded alarms about the remit’s lapse during a Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY 2024 funding request. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, also raised concerns during a Punchbowl News event the same day.

Nexstar and DirecTV signed a deal on retransmission rights for 176 Nexstar stations, ending a 76-day blackout for those stations but leaving behind an open FCC complaint, an ongoing antirust court battle and a continuing blackout for 27 other stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar through shared service agreements. DirecTV and Nexstar announced “a comprehensive new multi-year distribution agreement” in a joint release Monday, a day after announcing the return of Nexstar’s programming to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse. Terms of the agreements weren't disclosed.