Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is continuing to oppose advancing Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) over the measure’s proposed 18-month extension of the FCC’s sales authority, complicating efforts to pass a spectrum legislative package this year. Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., meanwhile, is backing language in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act version that proposes “an assessment of the implications of” provisions in the NTIA Organization Act “on DOD's access to the electromagnetic spectrum and resources" (see 2206160077).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., won’t bring up bipartisan privacy legislation the House Commerce Committee introduced for markup this week, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Wednesday.
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).
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.
House Communications Subcommittee members voiced strong support during a Tuesday hearing for the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) and two NTIA-focused spectrum bills, echoing expected backing from Wiley’s Anna Gomez and CommScope Business Development and Spectrum Policy Director Mark Gibson (see 2205230061). Lawmakers broadly supported elements of the Safe Connections Act (HR-7132), but opinions on the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275) divided along party lines.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders appear set on advancing the recently filed Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) as their preference for renewing the FCC’s auction authority, before a planned Tuesday hearing (see 2205170081), but there’s more uncertainty about whether they will be willing to attach related measures before it heads to the floor. Senate Commerce Committee leaders are tentative about HR-7783’s proposal to extend the FCC’s auction authority for 18 months to March 31, 2024, and some policy stakeholders told us they outright oppose such a short extension. The FCC's current auction authority expires Sept. 30.
The FCC is “forecasting” it will have its revised broadband coverage data maps “possibly” in November, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said during a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee hearing. Raimondo urged swift conference committee action to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260). She also touted her role in drumming up international support for U.S.-backed ITU secretary-general candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
The FCC will boost staffing of its International Bureau's Satellite Division by 38%, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in docket 12-1 letters to two House Communications and Technology Subcommittee members dated March 30 and posted Thursday. She said she also is accelerating the agency's satellite regulatory review process. The letters to Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., were in response to their joint March 14 letter encouraging Rosenworcel "to work with Congress to update the FCC’s rules and authorities to support new [satellite] entrants and to increase competition and consumer choice while protecting the operations and significant investments of existing operators." Matsui and Guthrie also urged sunsetting interference protections for earlier-round systems from later-round ones "after a reasonable time period" as a means of encouraging more efficient spectrum use while preventing "the creation of entrenched incumbents." The FCC "should also sunset more protections, especially those for outdated technologies, in order to encourage continuous innovation and spectrum efficiency," they said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Thursday named Democratic members to the China package conference (see 2204060074). Schumer named 13, including Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington; Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia; Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters of Michigan; Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio; and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., announced his selection to the conference committee. Pelosi Democratic members from 15 committees as conferees for Congress’ China package House Commerce Committee conferees are Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey; Anna Eshoo of California; Jan Schakowsky of Illinois; Doris Matsui of California; Paul Tonko of New York; Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware; and Darren Soto of Florida. Judiciary Committee members are Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York and Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania. House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters of California and House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas were included. Suzan DelBene of Washington made the list as a member of the Ways and Means Committee. Homeland Security Committee members are Dina Titus of Nevada and Val Demings of Florida. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced Republican members from her panel: Larry Bucshon of Indiana; Buddy Carter of Georgia; Jeff Duncan of South Carolina; and Dan Crenshaw of Texas. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a Thursday statement she looks forward to “working with these lawmakers and their soon-to-be-named Senate counterparts to better secure our supply chains, create good-paying jobs across the country, invest in scientific innovation and revitalize American semiconductor manufacturing.” TechNet continued its call for Congress to remove the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce (Shop Safe) Act (see 2203080027) from the package.
The FCC could face a tough challenge in looking at possible standards for receivers, as part of a notice inquiry teed up for a commissioner vote April 21 (see 2203310065). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, working with Commissioner Nathan Simington, circulated a draft NOI last week. Receiver problems figured prominently in recent spectrum fights, most notably the C band, but industry officials said there’s no easy approach for the FCC. In the C band, the FAA and airline industry fought to protect altimeters operating in spectrum more than 200 MHz away.