The FCC will continue updating Congress about the affordable connectivity program's status in hopes of convincing lawmakers for money to keep it running, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday after the commissioners’ open meeting (see 2401250064). The FCC expects the initiative will exhaust its $14.2 billion allocation in April. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process (see 2401110072).
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is considering attaching an amendment to a pending national security supplemental spending bill that would allocate $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, communications officials and lobbyists said in interviews. Telecom-focused lawmakers are still eyeing FY 2024 appropriations bills as vehicles for allocating rip-and-replace money, and some are pushing to keep using a spectrum legislative package to pay for it. President Joe Biden asked Congress to authorize the additional rip-and-replace money in October as part of a domestic funding supplemental separate from the national security request (see 2310250075).
Senate Telehealth Working Group co-Chair Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and nine other lawmakers urged the Department of Health and Human Services to “work with Congress to ensure that all Medicare beneficiaries have permanent access to telehealth services before the temporary waivers expire on December 31, 2024.” Lawmakers have long supported proposals making permanent the current temporary lift enacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2008170064) of some restrictions on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services and coverage of those services at federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. “Enacting permanent telehealth legislation will require collaboration between HHS and Congress in the year ahead,” Schatz and the lawmakers said in a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We urge you to communicate to Congress and the public the authorities, appropriations, resources, and other supports needed to achieve this goal.” 2024 will be “a pivotal year for telehealth policy, and it is critical that we enact long-term legislation” before year’s end, the lawmakers said: “Telehealth is a cost-effective way to improve access to care, especially for rural and underserved communities. Telehealth also allows patients to choose a medical provider that best suits their personal medical needs. Medicare beneficiaries have come to rely on expanded access to telehealth and are satisfied with the care they have received. We must provide patients and clinicians long-term certainty about access to care through telehealth.” Others signing the letter included Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif.
NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).
House Communications Subcommittee members again raised concerns about the impact the FCC Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program’s $3.08 billion funding shortfall is having on removing suspect gear from U.S. networks, as expected (see 2401100072). Their concerns came during a hearing Thursday. In addition, subpanel members offered generally positive reviews of the FCC's voluntary Cyber Trust Mark cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices (see 2308100032), but some GOP leaders were skeptical that it would remain voluntary as advertised.
Congressional backers of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) are eyeing alternate routes to have it pass this year amid continued obstacles that stymied the measure in both chambers in 2023. The legislation would require a Transportation Department mandate for inclusion of AM radio technology in future vehicles. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, failed to get unanimous consent approval of S-1669 in December (see 2312060073) amid opposition from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Senate Commerce advanced the measure in July (see 2307270063).
Congress is unlikely to follow up the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) with a near-term agreement on a broader spectrum legislative package, certainly not in time to factor into the upcoming debate over funding the federal government once an existing continuing resolution expires Feb. 2, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. President Joe Biden signed the 5G Sale Act last week (see 2312200061), giving the FCC temporary authority to issue 2.5 GHz band licenses that T-Mobile and others won in a 2022 auction. All sides view the measure as a stopgap, required after months of stalled talks on Capitol Hill for a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s lapsed general auction authority (see 2312040001).
Lead Republican lawmakers’ recent charge that the FCC was “deeply misleading” about the affordable connectivity program’s efficacy (see 2312150068) has solidified perceptions on and off Capitol Hill that it will be extremely difficult to reach a deal allocating additional money before the initiative's funding runs out next year, lobbyists and observers told us. Estimates peg ACP as likely to exhaust its initial $14.2 billion tranche from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during the first half of 2024 (see 2309210060). The White House is pushing for Congress to appropriate an additional $6 billion to fully fund the program through the end of 2024 (see 2310250075).
The House Commerce Committee voted 46-0 Tuesday to advance its version of the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (HR-5677), clearing the way for floor action on the measure as a stopgap aimed at temporarily restoring parts of the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority. The Senate unanimously cleared original version S-2787 in September amid some lawmakers’ push to jump-start stalled talks on broad spectrum legislation (see 2309220057). The measure would give the FCC authority for 90 days to issue T-Mobile and other winning bidders the licenses they bought in the 2.5 GHz band auction last year (see 2309140051).
Lawmakers are beginning to talk about how to pivot from the House Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) text as Capitol Hill continues digesting findings of DOD's study about the potential effects commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band will have on incumbent military systems (see 2311290001), lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., acknowledges the unpublished DOD study’s findings likely mean lawmakers must forgo authorizing an auction of lower 3 GHz spectrum as part of a near-term compromise package.