The Alliance for Automotive Innovation is “committed to ensuring drivers have access to free, public alerts and safety warnings through” FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) system, but access to emergency alerts “is not limited to one mode of communication” like AM radio, says Vice President-Safety Police Scott Schmidt in written testimony for a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Schmidt’s testimony doesn’t mention the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) proposal to mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future vehicles, but witnesses representing broadcasters and public safety officials strongly endorse the measure in their written responses. House Communications Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, is evaluating whether to back HR-3413/S-1669 (see 2305260034).
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 Senate Commerce Committee’s plan for moving on President Joe Biden’s trio of FCC nominees remains fluid amid uncertainty about whether there will be bipartisan appetite to move Anna Gomez, the White House’s new nominee for the vacant fifth commission seat, together with sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2305220065). Gomez told members of the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference last week she plans to stay in her existing State Department appointment to lead the group (see 2301260072) until the Senate confirms her as a commissioner.
The FCC continues “to welcome opportunities to improve” the affordable connectivity program (ACP) “and meet our shared goal of connecting 100% of us,” a spokesperson emailed us in response to commission acting Inspector General Sharon Diskin’s letter earlier this week to GOP leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees that she “shares” some of their concerns with the program’s administration. Diskin criticized the FCC for not applying “lessons learned from prior program experience” when it wrote ACP’s rules (see 2305310080). The FCC set up ACP “in record time because Congress required it” via the 2021 Infrastructure investment and Jobs Act “and because we recognize affordable broadband is essential for modern life,” the spokesperson said: “We remain committed to protecting the success and integrity" of ACP "so it operates as Congress envisioned. As such, we’ve independently launched our own program audits, including asking providers to share additional information about their alternative verification programs.” Any “reviews by the inspector general” like Office of Inspector General’s ACP audit “are met with swift response by the agency so we can maintain the ACP’s program integrity,” the spokesperson said.
The FCC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) shares “many of the same concerns” top Republican leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees voiced in early May about the commission's management of broadband money it received for the affordable connectivity program (ACP) during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2305080067), acting IG Sharon Diskin told the GOP leaders Tuesday in a letter we obtained. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sought information from the FCC OIG about ACP’s administration, citing ongoing debate about extending its life.
The House Commerce Committee’s Wednesday advancement of the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and panel leaders’ push to enact (see 2305170037) a bill to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through June 30 (HR-3345) are aimed squarely at putting pressure on Senate negotiators to reach a deal, said lawmakers, congressional aides and others in interviews. The panel advanced an amended version of HR-3565 50-0 and unanimously approved five bipartisan broadband permitting measures but divided sharply along party lines on the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-3557).
Three House Communications Subcommittee priorities drew equal attention during a Tuesday hearing with NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: leaders’ push for a wide-ranging spectrum legislative package, oversight of federal broadband spending, and renewed Hill interest in reauthorizing the agency’s mandate with an eye to addressing future policy issues. The hearing was partly a curtain-raiser for the Commerce Committee’s planned Wednesday markup of the newly filed Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and six broadband measures House Communications approved last week (see 2305170037).
President Joe Biden’s decision to simultaneously announce his intended pick Monday of former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to the long-vacant fifth FCC seat and his renomination of sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, as expected (see 2305180067 and 2305220020), is likely to speed Senate confirmation for all three candidates, said congressional officials and communications policy observers in interviews. There’s not a hard timeline for Senate consideration of the trio, but a Commerce Committee confirmation hearing is likely sometime in June and some stakeholders said they will push the chamber to approve all three before the start of the August recess.
The White House plans to announce on Monday President Joe Biden’s intent to nominate former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to the vacant fifth FCC seat and renominate sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, congressional and other communications policy lobbyists told us Sunday night and Monday. The White House didn’t immediately comment.
President Joe Biden is all but certain to nominate former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to fill the long-vacant fifth FCC seat, but the timing of a formal announcement remained uncertain Thursday despite a Bloomberg report implying it was imminent, congressional officials and communications policy observers told us. Gomez’s confirmation would give the FCC a 3-2 Democratic majority after more than two years of a 2-2 tie. Previous candidate Gigi Sohn asked Biden in March to withdraw her name after her often-contentious Senate confirmation process repeatedly stalled (see 2303070082).
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., threw a wrench in Senate prospects for quickly passing a new proposal from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through June 30 (HR-3345) before the House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced it during a Wednesday markup session. The mandate expired in early March after Rounds objected to Senate leaders' bid to pass a House-cleared bill to extend the mandate through May 19 (HR-1108) by unanimous consent (see 2303090074). Rounds told us Tuesday he still won't allow UC passage of any bill to restore the FCC's remit unless it goes through Sept. 30 to give DOD time to complete a study of its systems on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band.