House Communications Subcommittee leaders said Wednesday they’re eyeing combining the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) and revised versions of the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) and Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) before a full Commerce Committee vote. The subpanel unanimously advanced HR-5486, HR-7624, HR-7783 and four other telecom bills Wednesday, as expected (see 2206140077).
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 House Communications Subcommittee will mark up the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783), a significantly modified version of the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) and five other telecom bills Wednesday, as expected (see 2206100001), the Commerce Committee said Monday. The markup includes a revised version of the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) that proposes to use proceeds from the 3.1-3.45 GHz auction it authorizes to pay for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and additional money for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to repay U.S. carriers for removing from their networks equipment made by companies deemed a national security risk.
Top members of the House and Senate Commerce committees are having varying levels of success in moving forward in the coming weeks on spectrum legislation. The House Communications Subcommittee plans to mark up a revised version of the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) Wednesday along with other legislation, subpanel Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said in an interview. Senate Commerce leaders, meanwhile, told us they're still grappling with how to move forward on the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472) after an amendment fight prompted them to remove it from a markup last month (see 2205250063).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other panel Republicans criticized NTIA’s plans for rolling out its $48 billion share of broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during a Thursday hearing with agency Administrator Alan Davidson, as expected (see 2206020070). Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and other panel Democrats delivered more positive, but not universally complimentary, reviews of NTIA’s work. There was significantly less focus on the agency’s government spectrum coordination role.
The FCC won’t have a finalized estimate of demands for money from the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to repay U.S. carriers for removing from their networks equipment made by companies deemed a national security risk ready by June 15 as initially anticipated, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in letters to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and other leaders of the House and Senate Commerce and Appropriations committees released Wednesday. Cantwell, Wicker and other lawmakers have been eyeing whether and how much additional funding they will seek to appropriate to the “rip and replace” program beyond the $1.9 billion Congress allocated to the program via the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus law (see 2203140061).
The Senate’s continued stall in considering FCC nominee Gigi Sohn is prompting some of her supporters to eye ways to break the logjam, including pressing chamber leaders to seek an initial discharge vote to bring her to the floor even if Democratic senators who remain publicly undecided on her candidacy (see 2205050050) don’t commit to a position beforehand. Some supporters believe it’s worth the risk such a vote would fail given chatter about Sohn or the White House withdrawing her nomination, though top Senate Democratic backers believe it’s unlikely the White House would take such an action. Observers also see a White House recess appointment of Sohn as an increasingly feasible route to at least temporarily set up a Democratic FCC majority given the commission’s year-plus 2-2 deadlock.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; and panel ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., floated a discussion draft Friday of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act in a bid to advance compromise tech-focused privacy legislation before the end of this Congress. The proposal’s chances of advancing before the end of the year could be hampered by a rapidly closing legislative window and a lack of buy-in from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., lobbyists and officials told us.
Two top Senate Communications Subcommittee members told us they intend to focus on NTIA’s rollout of $48 billion in connectivity money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during the subpanel’s upcoming NTIA oversight hearing. Senate Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., indicated interest in talking about NTIA’s recent notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2205130054).
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing an NTIA oversight hearing with Administrator Alan Davidson the first full week of June, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in an interview. The Communications Subcommittee may handle the hearing instead of the full panel, Cantwell said. The hearing is expected to happen June 8 or 9, lobbyists said. Davidson previously testified at a February House Communications Subcommittee NTIA oversight hearing (see 2202160064).
The Senate Commerce Committee pulled the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472) Tuesday night from the agenda for a Wednesday executive session amid objections to some proposed amendments to the measure, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. S-1472 would require the FCC and NTIA to update their spectrum memorandum of understanding, including to add language on a process for addressing interagency policy differences and instituting a resolution process. Senate Commerce leaders said they hope further revisions won’t significantly delay bringing the bill up again.