Four Republican lawmakers urged the Biden administration Sept. 19 to carry out two new Iran sanctions laws, both of which have deadlines that already passed.
The U.S. on Sept. 18 brought various claims against the two Singaporean businesses that owned and operated the vessel that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, DOJ announced. The lawsuit looks to recover over $100 million in costs the U.S. incurred over the course of its response to the "fatal disaster" and for "clearing the entangled wreck and bridge debris from the navigable channel so the port could reopen" (In the Matter of the Petition of Grace Ocean Private Limited, D. Md. # 24-00941).
Statutory language in the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act allowed the FCC to act against those responsible for illegal voice-cloning in the New Hampshire presidential primary election (see 2408210039), Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday.
House Oversight Committee Democrats tussled with Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Thursday hearing over his responses to their questions about former President Donald Trump’s call to revoke ABC’s licenses over the network’s handling of his Sept. 10 presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris (see 2409110058). House Oversight Democrats also repeatedly highlighted that Carr wrote the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy agenda (see 2407050015). Panel Republicans focused on amplifying Carr’s criticism of NTIA’s implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2408070023).
Consumer advocates said the California Public Utilities Commission should move ahead with service quality rule changes that the telecom industry says would be illegal. “The Commission has the authority and supporting precedent to impose meaningful enforcement mechanisms for its customer protection and service quality rules,” The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) said in reply comments the CPUC received Tuesday. However, telecom industry commenters said a CPUC staff proposal and consumer groups' proposed additions aren’t supported by facts, the law or policy reasons.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a bill that wouldn't allow tariffs to be hiked under Section 232, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Section 301 or any other customs and trade laws or trade agreements unless Congress passes that "new tax into law."
The FCC’s June rules for foreign-sponsored content violate the Administrative Procedure Act because the agency didn’t provide notice of plans for expanding the 2021 rules to cover political ads and public service announcements, said NAB in a petition for review filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The 2024 order was a response to a D.C. Circuit ruling in favor of an NAB-backed challenge to portions of the FCC's 2021 foreign-sponsored content rules. The FCC “did not even attempt to provide a rationale for changing course,” to go after PSAs and issue ads, NAB said in the filing, which echoes arguments Commissioners Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr raised in dissents back in May. “Adopting rule changes nobody could have reasonably anticipated is a textbook example of unfair surprise,” Carr wrote at the time.
After senators sent letters to all five FCC commissioners Friday calling for the agency to avoid “weaponization” of its licensing authority against broadcasters, Commissioner Nathan Simington responded, saying the FCC should renew the license of Fox station WTXF-TV Philadelphia over the opposition of public interest group the Media and Democracy Project (MAD). Letters from Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., referenced recent comments from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump against ABC (see 2409120056).
The banking industry’s increasing overcompliance with U.S. sanctions is leading to an uptick in unnecessary financing delays and transaction cancellations, nongovernmental organizations told the Treasury Department. They said the issues are causing hurdles for humanitarian groups trying to deliver aid abroad and raising discrimination concerns among foreigners living in the U.S.
In a dissent attached to a combined $3.6 million forfeiture against Sinclair Broadcast and others over kidvid violations, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington has vowed he will dissent from monetary forfeitures until the agency “formally determines the bounds of its enforcement authority.” Simington's move comes in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision SEC v. Jarkesy. The order was approved 3-2, with Commissioner Brendan Carr also dissenting. The forfeiture order was adopted Aug.14, but not released until Thursday. The FCC didn't immediately comment on the delay. “I call on the Commission to open a Notice of Inquiry to determine the new constitutional contours of Commission enforcement authority,” Simington wrote. “The statutory structure governing the FCC’s forfeiture power is quite different from that of the SEC,” the FCC said in a footnote in the order, arguing that the agency’s enforcement actions don’t violate the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial as SCOTUS ruled the SEC’s do.