The White House wants the FCC to have much higher funding next year and to fund an agency transition to new or smaller headquarters, it said Monday. The lease for the FCC’s Portals building headquarters ends in 2017 (see 1501090040). The administration's FY 2016 $4 trillion budget, issued a month earlier than the one for a year ago, included provisions on spectrum, cybersecurity and broadband. It received immediate pushback from some Hill lawmakers, who insisted Congress won't advance the administration’s budget.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wants to revive the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) grants to the tune of $5 billion a year for the next several years. Sanders put those provisions into a sprawling bill known as the Rebuild America Act (S-268), a five-year spending plan to invest $1 trillion across different projects and industries that he filed Tuesday. Observers told us some appetite exists for additional broadband stimulus funding but said details remain unknown about what the stimulus would look like and that there may be an uphill fight to get the GOP-controlled Congress to pass such a major spending bill.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wants to revive the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) grants to the tune of $5 billion a year for the next several years. Sanders put those provisions into a sprawling bill known as the Rebuild America Act (S-268), a five-year spending plan to invest $1 trillion across different projects and industries that he filed Tuesday. Observers told us some appetite exists for additional broadband stimulus funding but said details remain unknown about what the stimulus would look like and that there may be an uphill fight to get the GOP-controlled Congress to pass such a major spending bill.

The FCC plans to fine Advanced Tel of Simi Valley, California, $1.6 million for failing to make required payments to USF and other federal telecom programs, the Enforcement Bureau said in a news release Monday. “All phone companies are required to participate in universal access programs so that consumers everywhere have access to critical telecommunications services,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said. “Service providers who flagrantly avoid these responsibilities damage these programs and the public interest, and we demonstrate today that we will hold them accountable.” The carrier did not make payments to USF and the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund, as well as the Local Number Portability Administration, and federal regulatory fees, the release said. Advanced Tel did not immediately comment.

The FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act in refusing to reconsider how the agency sets its rate floor to determine some types of USF support, said NTCA and rural carriers in an application for review. The agency declined comment on the application, filed Wednesday by the NTCA, Eastern Rural Telecom Association, National Exchange Carrier Association and WTA.

Telecom giants often cut lobbying spending in Q4 despite myriad priorities ahead, currently ranging from net neutrality to a broader telecom law rewrite. Forms for last quarter were due this week. Observers told us not to let any dips in spending create the impression that industry is not deeply engaged in lobbying at a high level and likely to spend more this coming year. High-technology lobbying spending has been on the rise (see 1501220060).

Telecom giants often cut lobbying spending in Q4 despite myriad priorities ahead, currently ranging from net neutrality to a broader telecom law rewrite. Forms for last quarter were due this week. Observers told us not to let any dips in spending create the impression that industry is not deeply engaged in lobbying at a high level and likely to spend more this coming year. High-technology lobbying spending has been on the rise (see 1501220060).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be moving toward basing net neutrality rules on Title II (see 1501070054), but how he goes about it has become intertwined with another controversial issue -- whether to require broadband customers to begin paying into the USF. If the FCC approves reclassification, and forbearance from Section 254, the agency could block its own ability to require broadband to contribute to the fund, an NTCA official told us. The group made the case to the agency last week. ITTA, which like NTCA has called for requiring broadband providers to begin contributing to the fund, also opposes forbearing from the section, said ITTA President Genny Morelli in an interview.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be moving toward basing net neutrality rules on Title II (see 1501070054), but how he goes about it has become intertwined with another controversial issue -- whether to require broadband customers to begin paying into the USF. If the FCC approves reclassification, and forbearance from Section 254, the agency could block its own ability to require broadband to contribute to the fund, an NTCA official told us. The group made the case to the agency last week. ITTA, which like NTCA has called for requiring broadband providers to begin contributing to the fund, also opposes forbearing from the section, said ITTA President Genny Morelli in an interview.

A legal issue that could arise if the FCC’s coming net neutrality order reclassifies broadband as a telecom service is that a telecom service is defined as "the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing,” said University of Pennsylvania Law professor Christopher Yoo. Technically, while users may enter the name of the website they want to visit, it’s the Domain Name Server service that chooses the point on the Internet where the user goes, Yoo said at a net neutrality panel Monday at the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting. Other panelists disagreed.