Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said Sunday he now backs the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act substitute for shell bill HR-3684, and voted to invoke cloture on the measure after earlier opposing efforts to move forward. The Senate voted 68-29 to invoke cloture after a 69-28 vote to adopt the HR-3684 substitute. A final vote on the measure is expected Tuesday morning. A group of senators said Monday they reached a deal on a compromise on rival cryptocurrency amendments (see 2108090050). Wicker cited statements from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who co-led work on HR-3684’s broadband language, that “preventing regulation of internet rates was the express intent of the broadband title.” Without that “assurance” and specific language in the measure barring NTIA from using actions related to executing the proposed $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment grants program to “regulate the rates charged for broadband” service, “I would not have been able to support this bill on final passage,” Wicker said. “It is no secret that I have registered my concerns” about language that exempts the NTIA administrator from having to follow some Administrative Procedure Act requirements when making decisions on the grants program. “I hope” NTIA will “take care to avoid the wasteful and costly mistakes” the agency made in implementing the broadband technology opportunities program during the Obama administration “and make sure these broadband dollars are spent efficiently, effectively and with the benefit of stakeholder comment,” Wicker said. He and Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., had cited NTIA’s BTOP history as a reason they wanted to shift the $42.5 billion in broadband grants to the FCC’s purview (see 2108050064). Thune, Communications Subcommittee ranking member, was among the Republicans who voted against invoking cloture on HR-3684 Sunday. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation backs the measure’s broadband language, though it remains “far from perfect,” said Broadband and Spectrum Policy Director Doug Brake. Still, it “likely represents the best path forward for a much-needed and historic investment to close the digital divide.” The Washington Post also praised the proposed broadband funding in an editorial.
Senators pushing rival cryptocurrency amendments for the infrastructure bill announced an agreement Monday on reporting requirements. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Mark Warner, D-Va., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., announced a deal for clarifying who will be subject to cryptocurrency tax reporting requirements (see 2108060055). They said they worked with the Treasury Department to “clarify the underlying text and ensure that those who are not acting as brokers will not be subject to the bill’s reporting requirements.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who was working on a separate amendment with Toomey and Lummis, tweeted that they have “been working hard to get a deal. I don’t believe the cryptocurrency amendment language on offer is good enough to protect privacy and security, but it’s certainly better than the underlying bill.” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “says he won’t block a unanimous consent request on it,” Wyden said.
It’s critical for Facebook to allow independent research of its platform, a group of Democratic senators wrote CEO Mark Zuckerberg after the company terminated New York University’s Ad Observatory Project’s access. It’s imperative for Facebook to “allow credible academic researchers and journalists” to “conduct independent research that will help illuminate how the company can better tackle misinformation, disinformation, and other harmful activity that is proliferating on its platforms,” wrote Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Minn.; Chris Coons, Del.; and Mark Warner, Va., Friday. The company didn’t comment Monday.
The Universal Service Administrative Co. is “planning a comprehensive redesign” of LifelineSupport.org, said FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Her letters, posted Friday, went to Reps. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Steve Womack, R-Ark., Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and James Comer, R-Ky., and Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio. The redesign will include “changes to navigational elements and content, informed by user feedback,” Rosenworcel said, and the FCC and USAC are also “determining technical development work” and other steps needed to transition checklifeline.org to the FCC.gov subdomain.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other congressional Democrats urged Amazon and Facebook Wednesday to end their bid for FTC Chair Lina Khan’s recusal from antitrust decisions involving the companies (see 2107160052). Khan “has no ... conflicts that would require recusal,” Warren and the other Democrats wrote Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “There is no basis for her recusal under the current federal ethics statute or FTC precedent. Your efforts to sideline Chair Khan appear to be nothing more than attempts to force an FTC stalemate that would allow you to evade accountability for any anti-competitive behavior.” Others signing are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Both companies “have engaged in a coordinated attack to discredit Chair Khan on ethics grounds, even -- in the case of Amazon -- going so far as to request immunity from any future antitrust investigations,” the lawmakers said. “The real basis of your concerns appears to be that you fear Chair Khan’s expertise and interpretation of federal antitrust law.” The platforms didn’t comment.
Facebook should release internal research about potentially harmful impacts of its platforms, including Instagram for kids, on children’s mental health, Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote the company Wednesday. They noted that a hearing is planned for September, for which they asked a Facebook senior executive to testify. They asked CEO Mark Zuckerberg to explain how internal research is “used to further promote and market their products to young users.” Facebook welcomes "productive collaboration" with Blumenthal and Blackburn "to keep young people safe online," a spokesperson emailed. "Just last week we shared significant updates on our work in this area, including defaulting those under 16 into private accounts when they join Instagram. For those under 13, the reality is that they’re already online, so we’re creating an experience for them that is age-appropriate, and managed by parents.”
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced an amended version of the Secure Equipment Act on a voice vote Wednesday. S-1790 and House Commerce-cleared companion HR-3919 (see 2107210064) would ban the FCC from issuing new equipment licenses to Huawei and other companies that the commission considers a national security risk. It mirrors a June FCC order (see 2106090063). S-1790 lead sponsors Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., hailed advancement of the measure. “Our bipartisan legislation will keep compromised equipment out of U.S. telecommunications networks and ensure our technology is safe for consumers and secure for” the U.S., Markey said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sparred Tuesday about the pace the chamber will take in considering the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, filed as a substitute amendment to shell bill HR-3684. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is leading efforts to amend the infrastructure package’s $65 billion broadband title to address anti-digital redlining and consumer protection provisions some Republicans consider a potential back door to rate regulation (see 2108020061). Senate Democrats and Republicans are working to set up “additional votes” on amendments to the measure, but the chamber needs to “work efficiently to set up those votes,” Schumer told reporters. The “longer it takes to finish” consideration of HR-3684, “the longer we’ll be here” since the Senate “will complete both” the infrastructure bill and a separate resolution to set up a supplemental budget reconciliation package “before we leave for the August recess.” McConnell told reporters he favors “trying to get an outcome” on HR-3684, but the “best way to pass this infrastructure bill is to not try to file cloture today” and speed the process. “This is an extremely important bipartisan bill” and “to try to truncate” the amendments process “on something of this magnitude, I think is a mistake,” he said. If Schumer attempts to file cloture Tuesday to end amendments consideration, McConnell will urge Republicans to filibuster. Senators voted 95-1 Monday in favor of an amendment from Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to attach language from the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act (S-163 and see 2102020072). Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, touted on the Senate floor her work with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to reach a deal on the package’s broadband language. She hoped the Senate will vote on an amendment from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would “give more flexibility to states to invest in broadband using some of the” money they received from previous COVID-19 aid bills. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and Angus King, I-Maine, cited the infrastructure package’s inclusion of $42.5 billion for an NTIA-administered Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grants program, mirroring a proposal in their S-2071.
Government must better understand how social media transmission of “hateful” content leads to violence, said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., during a hearing Tuesday. The committee will examine the issue throughout the year, he said. Ranking member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, expressed disappointment officials didn’t testify about how agencies are addressing the problem. Five years after a Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing with witnesses from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and State Department, extremists are still exploiting platforms, said Portman. Congress must change the way the federal government approaches domestic terrorism, said Peters. The committee released a bipartisan report Tuesday saying seven of eight federal agencies are failing to comply with baseline cybersecurity requirements under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act. It describes systemic failures at the State, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Education departments and the Social Security Administration. The report cites failures to protect personal information, to “maintain accurate and comprehensive IT asset inventories, to maintain current authorizations to operate for information systems, to install security patches quickly, and to retire legacy technology no longer supported by the vendor.”
Senate Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday that would allow the FTC to oversee data use practices of common carriers and nonprofits. The Setting an American Framework to Ensure Data Access, Transparency and Accountability (Safe Data) Act -- from Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, Miss., and Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, Tenn. -- would allow the FTC to develop new rules on categories of sensitive data and require the agency to maintain a data broker registry. Consumers would be able to access, correct, delete and port data under the legislation. It would bar companies from processing or transferring user data without user consent.