Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada, a Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus co-chairman, said Thursday he joined three other Republicans in voting against the 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) because of its language clawing back $1.1 billion of CPB's advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 (see 2506090036). The lower chamber passed HR-4 214-212, largely along party lines apart from the four GOP defectors (see 2506120084). CPB, NPR, PBS and America’s Public Television Stations urged the Senate Thursday night not to agree to the House-passed cuts.
The U.S. and defendant-intervenors led by Archer Daniels Midland each argued June 10 that Loper Bright doesn’t impact the Commerce Department’s discretion in deciding to use a mandatory review respondent’s annual conversion costs and quarterly direct material costs (Citribel v. United States, CIT # 24-00010).
New York's Senate rushed through AI legislation without taking stakeholder feedback into account -- favorable or unfavorable, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said Friday. Meanwhile, the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) said it’s dissatisfied with recent changes to one of the bills.
Former FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told broadcasters Thursday that Chairman Brendan Carr has chosen not to take steps to ease the ATSC 3.0 transition. Carr could have long ago had the agency issue guidance to speed the approval of ATSC 3.0 channel-sharing applications, even without a Republican majority, Simington said in a speech at the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference.
A tech industry group on Friday ruled out the possibility that a rulemaking would alleviate its concerns with Vermont’s new age-appropriate design code law. Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed S-69 on Thursday (see 2506120094) despite vetoing a similar proposal last year. Businesses of all sizes will have to comply with the Vermont AADC or potentially face AG enforcement or lawsuits from individuals via a private right of action in the state's existing consumer protection law.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., continued Thursday to criticize panel Republicans’ proposed spectrum language for the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506060029). She argued during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the spectrum proposal would leave DOD and aviation stakeholders more vulnerable to China and other malicious actors. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and 30 other chamber Democrats also urged Senate leaders to jettison language from the reconciliation package that would require governments receiving funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program to pause enforcing state-level AI rules.
Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan said he remains worried about what the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the USF's constitutionality, though he also expressed optimism that the program will survive the Consumers' Research challenge (see 2504140039). Donovan spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast this week, hosted by former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s lack of an official replacement regulation for the Biden-era AI diffusion rule is causing significant uncertainty for companies working in the semiconductor sector, industry officials said this week. Although BIS has said it doesn’t plan to enforce the rule, at least one consultant said she’s not yet comfortable advising clients to ignore those restrictions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's stay of the Court of International Trade decision vacating all International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff action likely doesn't signal a win for either side on the merits of the issue, various attorneys told us. In addition, the court's move to set a July 31 oral argument date and have all active judges hear the case indicates a decision will likely be issued in August, the attorneys said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday that he's standing pat on the spectrum legislative language he released last week as part of the panel's portion of the GOP's planned budget reconciliation package, despite ongoing objections from some Armed Services Committee Republicans who agreed to the deal. Meanwhile, House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told us Tuesday that he's willing to accept the Senate Commerce proposal’s language exempting the 7.4-8.4 GHz band from potential sale.