House Communications Subcommittee members made the future of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program a major focus of its Wednesday commission oversight hearing, as expected (see 2306200075), but the panel didn’t result in a clear sense of whether Commerce Committee GOP leaders will back additional funding for the initiative. Subpanel Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and others haven’t committed themselves as either for or against further ACP funding (see 2305100073). Democrats strongly defended the program and urged its extension.
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
The FCC’s administration of its affordable connectivity program and other broadband initiatives won’t be the sole focus of a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing with commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners, but it’s likely to be the item with the most bearing on future policymaking, observers said in interviews. The panel is happening a day before two of the commissioners -- Republican Brendan Carr and Democrat Geoffrey Starks -- appear before the Senate Commerce Committee for a joint confirmation hearing with new FCC nominee Anna Gomez (see 2306150068). The House Communications hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us he doesn’t plan to seek amendments to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act involving his push to delay a deal on a spectrum legislative package until after DOD completes a study of its systems on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2305170037). The 175-member House-side Republican Study Committee, meanwhile, backed restoring the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority for an indeterminate amount of time, in its FY24 budget proposal.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a confirmation hearing June 22 on FCC nominee Anna Gomez, along with renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, despite a GOP push to split up the trio, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, told us Wednesday. The panel is unlikely to formally notice the hearing until Thursday. Supporters of shifting the FCC to a 3-2 Democratic majority are hopeful the move will set the Senate on a course to confirm all three nominees before the chamber begins its August recess. The House Communications Subcommittee is also to hear from FCC commissioners next week, setting its first commission oversight hearing of this Congress for June 21.
The House Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) “misses the mark,” but “I remain committed to enacting legislation that expands commercial access to spectrum and maximizes value for American taxpayers,” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us in a statement Monday. Panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are citing Cruz as the main impediment right now to congressional leaders reaching a consensus on a spectrum legislative package (see 2306120058). HR-3565 mirrors major parts of the spectrum legislative package House and Senate Commerce leaders proposed in December (see 2212190069), including language to allocate some future auction proceeds to the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, next-generation 911 technology upgrades and middle-mile projects. Cruz said he's “especially” opposed to “the $20 billion earmarked for a variety of pet projects like unneeded and duplicative broadband subsidies.”
Backers of allocating additional money for the FCC's affordable connectivity program and other broadband initiatives the federal government created during the COVID-19 pandemic need to make Republicans "understand the consequences ... of not funding access," said House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee ranking member Steny Hoyer, D-Md., during a Tuesday Punchbowl News event. GOP leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees called ACP's future into question in May when they asked the FCC's Office of Inspector General to probe the commission's management of the program money it received via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2305080067).
Telecom-focused congressional leaders told us they’re sticking for now with a potential spectrum legislative package that would allocate some future auction proceeds to the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as the best option for fixing the initiative’s $3.08 billion shortfall. Talks on the package have yielded limited progress since January amid resistance from Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to major portions of a previous version of the measure lawmakers failed in December to attach to the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus (see 2212190069).
The Senate Commerce Committee “has received” required paperwork from the White House on new FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. The panel has been trying to schedule a June hearing on the trio but couldn’t until the Biden administration submitted information (see 2306070073). “We’re going through all” the submitted paperwork now and “will schedule a hearing soon,” she told us: “We’d like to get” pending FAA reauthorization legislation “off the board first.”
Senate Commerce Committee leaders are continuing to push for a June confirmation hearing on FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2306010075) but haven't settled on a date, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Ex-nominee Gigi Sohn, meanwhile, directed her ire during a Tuesday Media and Democracy Project event at all levels of news media for not effectively covering her year-plus stalled confirmation process, saying she hopes Gomez and other future FCC candidates don't get the same treatment. Sohn asked President Joe Biden to withdraw her from consideration in March amid continued resistance from a handful of Democrats and uniform GOP opposition (see 2303070082).
The House Commerce Committee’s appetite for advancing the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) proposal to mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future vehicles remains in doubt after multiple Communications Subcommittee members from both parties voiced skepticism during a Tuesday hearing, despite near-unanimous concern about potential public safety implications. House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., told us she’s among those questioning the need for legislation in the short term to prevent AM radio’s removal from future vehicles. Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said in an interview he remains undecided on HR-3413/S-1669 (see 2305260034) after the hearing.