The Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter Tuesday to lead DOJ's Antitrust Division, with a 68-29 vote (see 2111150056).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and seven other Republicans urged the Commerce Department Monday to beef up its enforcement of restrictions on U.S. exports to Huawei and other companies on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s entity list, citing what they consider insufficient implementation. Huawei has been on the entity list since May 2019 (see 1905210013). The House Foreign Affairs Committee revealed last month BIS approved $100 billion-plus worth of export licenses for shipments to Huawei and top Chinese chipmaker SMIC from Nov. 9, 2020, through April 20 (see 2110220019). Commerce’s “lax enforcement” of its Foreign Direct Product Rule “has the effect of incentivizing other tech-focused companies throughout the supply chain to jeopardize our country’s security by transacting with Entity List companies like Huawei,” the GOP senators wrote Secretary Gina Raimondo. “Unless BIS enforces this rule with the speed the situation necessitates, additional suppliers of sensitive technology will likely engage in unlawful trade practices with companies closely connected to adversarial governments.” The lawmakers encouraged Raimondo to act “to ensure that BIS is equipped to enforce the full arsenal of the Department’s export control regulations -- and meet the challenges posed by this precarious moment -- considering the harms to national security they are intended to prevent.” BIS didn’t comment.
The Senate agreed Monday to vote on Jonathan Kanter’s nomination to lead DOJ’s Antitrust Division. The chamber agreed that “at a time to be determined” it will consider the nomination, with votes expected after 5:30 p.m. EST Monday. Kanter received overwhelming bipartisan support at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in October (see 2111010060).
President Joe Biden signed the Secure Equipment Act (HR-3919), which requires the FCC to ban issuing new equipment licenses to companies the commission decides are a national security risk, the White House said. The Senate passed the measure in late October (see 2110290067). Commissioners approved an NPRM 4-0 in June proposing a similar ban (see 2106090063). Lead sponsor Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and other sponsors jointly hailed Biden’s Thursday signing. “Now the FCC is prohibited from issuing licenses for any equipment made by companies that pose a threat to our national security,” Eshoo said Friday. Congress and the White House “sent a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that America is committed to protecting our telecommunications networks" and data security, said lead GOP co-sponsor House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Senate companion S-1790 sponsors Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also welcomed enactment. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., praised the measure as “a major step towards securing America’s telecommunications infrastructure” against companies like “China state-backed Huawei and ZTE.”
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a Wednesday confirmation hearing for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya, the panel said Wednesday. The hearing will also include assistant commerce secretary-oceans and atmosphere nominee Jainey Kumar Bavishi. The announcement confirms expectations that Senate Commerce was splitting initial consideration of Rosenworcel from that of Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, who faces GOP opposition (see 2111100078). The committee is eyeing a Dec. 1 hearing for Sohn and NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce will vote Wednesday on National Institute of Standards and Technology director nominee Laurie Locascio, the Anti-Spoofing Penalties Modernization Act (S-594) and American Cybersecurity Literacy Act ([S-2699] and see 2107210064). Locascio emphasized during an October confirmation hearing NIST’s role in maintaining U.S. competitiveness in communications and other emerging technologies against China and other adversaries (see 2110200066). S-594, like a previous version filed in 2019 (see 1907170076), would double the minimum fine per instance of illegal spoofing to $20,000 and up the maximum penalty to $2 million from the current $1 million. It would also extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting spoofing violations to three years from two years. The markup begins at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell, with the confirmation hearing immediately afterward.
President Joe Biden plans to sign the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Monday, as expected (see 2111080067), the White House said Wednesday. Biden plans to say at the signing ceremony that HR-3684, which includes $65 billion for broadband, will provide access to “high-speed internet for every American,” among other priorities, the White House said. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves hailed the broadband money, during a Wednesday call with reporters. “Reliable high-speed internet is a necessity,” especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. “I’ve heard too many” stories “about families during the pandemic being forced to make the difficult decision of who received remote learning each day because their internet connection wasn’t strong enough to support more than one user at a time. That’s an injustice and it needs to end.” He noted NTIA will disburse about $48 billion of the broadband money, and Commerce has a “wealth of experience from carrying out” similar programs like the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. An administration official said rules will reflect what was learned from past mistakes, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters. BTOP had been controversial. Commerce plans to seek input from state governments, the telecom sector and other stakeholders on those rules, including how the department will define what level of service a recipient must provide via a required “low-cost” plan, the official said. Department representatives had no clear timeline for finalizing potential rules but suggested they could require the full amount of time set out in HR-3684 because of the “complexities” in the planning process.
Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn got unexpected endorsements Wednesday from a pair of conservative media executives amid evidence of growing Senate GOP resistance to her confirmation. “I’ve fought in the trenches side-by-side” with Sohn “for a number of years on multiple issues,” said One America News Network President Charles Herring. “I’m fully aware of” her “personal views, yet I’m even more knowledgeable on her strong belief and advocacy of diversity in the programming lineup, especially news, regardless of conflicts with her” opinions. Sohn “has been very consistent in her views for diversity in media,” he said. "She believes in the First Amendment and the advantages of a strong and open media for the benefit of our democracy. She is one of the most knowledgeable persons I know on FCC issues and has the common sense and desire to work with people on both sides of the aisle.” Republican media consultant Bradley Blakeman, a former aide to President George W. Bush, separately endorsed Sohn in a Newsmax opinion piece. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., indicated Tuesday he definitely won’t support Sohn. “I will do everything in my power to convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this extreme nominee,” he tweeted. Sohn “is a complete political ideologue who has disdain for conservatives. She would be a complete nightmare for the country when it comes to regulating the public airwaves.” Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron, meanwhile, urged the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday against holding separate confirmation hearings for Sohn and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, tweeting “we need the FCC at work as fast as possible. And that means having all 5 commissioners in place.” Dragging “this out and delaying only serves the interests of those who don't want the FCC to do anything -- ever,” Aaron said. The committee remains on track for a hearing with Rosenworcel next week (see 2111020051), but leaders are believed to be considering a separate panel for Sohn amid GOP pushback against any attempt to “rush” that nominee’s confirmation, said a telecom lobbyist who follows Democratic deliberations. Senate Commerce leaders are also considering whether to include NTIA nominee Alan Davidson and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya at next week’s hearing or during a subsequent panel, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce Republicans aren’t fully opposed to fast-tracking Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation, with some saying they would be inclined to back her (see 2110260076). Senate Commerce didn’t comment.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., led filing of the Fair and Clear Campaign Transparency Act, in a bid to update broadcasters’ political ad reporting requirements. HR-5897 and its Senate companion would mandate that the FCC require broadcasters to submit political ad information in a machine-readable format, which bill sponsors said will allow better analysis of how political ad money is spent. Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and John Yarmuth, D-Ky., co-sponsored. “The American public owns the airwaves used by broadcasters, and Americans have every right to know how these airwaves are used, especially when it comes to the opaque world of political advertising,” Eshoo said Monday. “Broadcasters report information about political ads in unstructured formats today, meaning the information can’t be easily analyzed.” For “too long, unscrupulous actors could hide behind dark money in political advertising with little to no accountability,” Lujan said. “It’s time to raise the curtain and empower voters to understand who is fronting political advertisements.” Eshoo’s office noted support from Common Cause, Decode Democracy and End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund.
House Science Committee leaders asked the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to “prepare a report on strategies for protecting and enabling spectrum access and quality for science and operational applications” amid the push for NTIA to finalize a national spectrum strategy (see 2111010061). “As demand for spectrum for mobile applications has increased drastically in recent years, spectrum-dependent scientific fields and operational functions such as weather forecasting are facing increasing threats,” said House Science Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., in a letter to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Eric Lander released Monday. Lander co-chairs PCAST. The proposed report “should influence” the federal government’s “position at international proceedings, such as the World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs), and in domestic proceedings” at the FCC. “A clear message from PCAST would also empower” OSTP and NTIA “to advocate for science spectrum needs more effectively,” the House Science leaders said. They recommended PCAST consider what “additional research is needed” to “strengthen our ability to detect and predict the conditions under which spectrum applications may be harmed by interference” and to “improve processes, technologies, and techniques to mitigate interference with both passive and active sensing.” The lawmakers also want PCAST to examine whether “the concerns of science spectrum users, including federal science and operational agencies” are “being acknowledged, and accommodated effectively in the federal spectrum management process.” They want to know if there’s “adequate agreement among federal agencies, the scientific community, and industry on how technical studies to evaluate potential spectrum interference should be conducted … such that ‘apples-to-apples’ analysis supports decision-making.” House Science has frequently criticized FCC spectrum policy decisions in recent years, including during a July hearing (see 2107200060). Johnson and Lucas wrote FCC commissioners in August to raise concerns about the commission’s rules governing of-of-band emission limits for the 24 GHz band amid worries about interference risks to weather data collected by federal satellites in the adjacent 23.8 GHz band. OSTP didn’t comment.
President Joe Biden plans to sign “very soon” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) once “the congressional members” involved in getting the measure through both chambers “come back” from a weeklong recess, meaning it likely won't happen until at least Nov. 15, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. The House voted 228-206 Friday to agree to the Senate-passed version of HR-3684, which includes $65 billion for broadband (see 2108020061). The Senate approved the bill in August (see 2108100062). The measure will make “high-speed internet affordable and available everywhere in America,” Biden said Saturday. “No parent should have to sit in a parking lot of a fast food restaurant so their child can do their homework because they have no” other broadband connection. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., touted HR-3684 as “the most significant investment in our nation’s infrastructure in generations,” including for broadband. “Every community -- regardless of zip code -- needs and deserves access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, and with today’s action we take a giant step toward making that a reality,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D- N.J., Friday. Communications stakeholders praised House passage, including ACA Connects, American Library Association, Connect Americans Now, Fiber Broadband Association, Free Press, Frontier Communications, Incompas, Internet Innovation Alliance, National Governors Association, NTCA, Public Knowledge, TechNet, Wireless Infrastructure Association, Wireless ISP Association and WTA.