Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday during an oversight hearing at 10 a.m. in 106 Dirksen.
YouTube, TikTok and Snap will testify at a Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. The hearing will examine how social media impacts children’s health and privacy issues. Scheduled witnesses are Leslie Miller, YouTube vice president-government and public policy; Michael Beckerman, TikTok head-public policy, Americas; and Jennifer Stout, Snap vice president-global public policy.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Tuesday she believes the White House may be moving on long-delayed nominations for two Democratic FCC seats. “Some names may be coming up” to the Senate from President Joe Biden as soon as this week, she said, citing information her office received in recent days. “I don’t think” acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is out of the running to be permanent chair despite recent reports to the contrary, Cantwell said. She cautioned that she hasn’t received definitive word on nominees. Recent media coverage of the potential for the FCC to shift to a 2-1 Republican majority in January if Rosenworcel has to depart (see 2110080046) and related pressure from Democratic lawmakers “has gotten people to act,” Cantwell said. Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told us he hadn’t heard anything about progress on FCC nominations but would welcome it because “we’ve all been waiting around to see what they’re going to do.” Any FCC nominations that do happen are likely to be paired with Biden's expected pick of Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson for NTIA administrator, lobbyists said. The White House didn’t comment.
Amazon misled the House Judiciary Committee and potentially lied about self-preferencing business practices when former CEO Jeff Bezos and other executives testified, committee members wrote CEO Andy Jassy Monday. Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.; House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I.; House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo.; and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., signed the letter, requesting the company “correct the record” by Nov. 1. Citing news reports, the lawmakers described “a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India,” and similar evidence about Amazon placing house-brand products ahead of competitors. They requested “exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee.” The committee is considering a referral to DOJ for a potential criminal investigation, they wrote. Amazon and its executives didn’t mislead the committee and the company is seeking to correct inaccurate reporting, a spokesperson emailed: The company has “an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer’s policy that we’re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products.” Potential violations are investigated, and search is developed to feature items customers want, regardless of whether they are in-house products, the company said.
Draft FY 2022 funding measures the Senate Appropriations Committee released Monday would give $387.5 million to the FCC, $384 million to the FTC and $80.6 million to NTIA. The proposed FCC appropriation is under 1% less than the House approved (see 2107290061) and matches what President Joe Biden proposed in May. The proposed FTC funding is more than 1% less than the House and Biden seek (see 2105280055). The proposed NTIA money is 10% less than the House Appropriations Committee or Biden wants. The Patent and Trademark Office would get more than $4 billion, up more than 1% from what Biden and House Appropriations want. The National Institute of Standards and Technology would get $1.39 billion, up about 1% from what House Appropriations wants but more than 7% below what Biden proposes. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security would get $142.4 million, less than 1% below what House Appropriations seeks but on par with Biden’s budget request. DOJ’s Antitrust Division would get more than $201.1 million, on par with what Biden and House Appropriations want. CPB would get $565 million beginning in FY 2024, on par with what the House proposes. Biden wants to keep CPB’s funding level at $475 million. Senate Appropriations proposes including $30 million in the Department of Homeland Security’s FY 2022 allocation “to design initiatives to deliver a resilient 911 Ecosystem in discrete and usable segments.” DHS will collaborate with the FCC, NTIA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on that work.
The House is to vote Tuesday under rules suspension on the Secure Equipment Act (HR-3919/S-1790) and three other telecom bills: the Information and Communication Technology Strategy Act (HR-4028), Open Radio Access Network Outreach Act (HR-4032) and Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council Act (HR-4067). The House Commerce Committee advanced all four bills in July (see 2107210064).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said Monday he won’t seek re-election in 2022. “The time has come to pass the torch to the next generation,” he said during a news conference in Pittsburgh. Doyle cited the likelihood that Pennsylvania’s redistricting plans “will change this district and most likely push part of it outside Allegheny County,” which makes it “a good transition time for a new member to start in a newly drawn district.” Doyle has been House Communications’ lead Democrat since 2017 and became chairman when Democrats gained a majority in the chamber after the 2018 election (see 1901150056). He spearheaded House Democrats’ years long legislative push to undo FCC rescission of 2015 net neutrality rules (see 2103300001) and advocated for major broadband money to be included in infrastructure legislation. He recently filed the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378) to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2109290071). Doyle’s announcement immediately prompted speculation about potential contenders to succeed him as lead Communications Democrat. Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is known to be seeking to succeed Doyle, Capitol Hill aides and Democratic-focused lobbyists told us. Matsui’s office didn’t comment.
A House resolution calls on the tech industry to create an “industry-run rating board to streamline age-appropriate app ratings.” Introduced Friday by Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Mike Johnson, R-La., it calls for a board created by the tech industry and app developers to “enforce consistent and accurate age and content ratings of apps on internet-ready devices.” It urges tech platforms to “to ensure the implementation of user-friendly and streamlined parental controls on devices used by minors.” Parents are “left in the dark” because app ratings are “misleading or inaccurate,” said the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
Legislation House Democrats unveiled Thursday would remove Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity when a platform “knowingly or recklessly uses an algorithm or other technology to recommend content that materially contributes to physical or severe emotional injury.” Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, N.J., will introduce the Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act Friday with Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo of California. “Social media platforms like Facebook continue to actively amplify content that endangers our families, promotes conspiracy theories, and incites extremism to generate more clicks and ad dollars,” said Pallone.
Liberal and centrist Democratic factions sparred Tuesday over whether and how to trim a proposed budget reconciliation package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters she’s “very disappointed that we are not going with the original $3.5 trillion.” Telecom money included in a House Commerce Committee-approved portion of Democrats’ Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill, including $10 billion for Next Generation-911 and $4 billion for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund, could get trimmed or cut (see 2110010001). Senate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona want a smaller measure of $1.5 trillion-$2 trillion. Pelosi told House Democrats in a Monday letter that to pass both reconciliation and the linked Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) by Oct. 31, “it is essential that difficult decisions must be made very soon.” Liberal congressional Democrats are “prepared to negotiate, we are prepared to compromise, but we are not going to negotiate with ourselves,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., told reporters.