The House Financial Services Committee this week advanced a bill that would make USDA a permanent member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The Agricultural Security Risk Review Act, which passed the committee with bipartisan support, would address an “overdue” oversight in making the agency a formal part of all CFIUS reviews, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., said during a Sept. 20 committee markup. “While CFIUS is indeed a committee, it benefits from expertise and particular member agencies with relevant expertise,” he said. “Agriculture is too important to go neglected.”

The Commerce Department erred on remand when it stuck by its benchmark picks for the land program and the aluminum plate, sheet and strip program in a lawsuit on the 2016-17 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China, Chinese aluminum exporter Zhongji said in its Sept. 18 remand comments to the Court of International Trade (Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00133).

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said during a Thursday hearing they’re signing on to the USF working group that Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders formed in May to evaluate how to move forward on a comprehensive revamp of the program that may update its contribution factor to include non-wireline entities (see 2305110066). The Thursday hearing largely focused on USF revamp and possible integration of the affordable connectivity program, as expected (see 2309120059).

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking by video link at an Atlantic Council/Atlantik-Brücke program in Berlin Sept. 22, said she remains "very hopeful that we will have something to show the rest of the world in the next six-week period" as EU and U.S. negotiators continue to try to harmonize both trade defenses and approaches to privileging trade in green steel and aluminum.

Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., filed the Closing Long Overdue Steamlining Encumberances to Help Expeditiously Generate Approved Permits (Close the Gap) Act Wednesday in a bid to streamline federal siting processes for broadband projects. The measure would direct the Agriculture and Interior departments to issue new regulations to streamline the process for broadband applications on federal land. It would also create new National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act review exemptions, including for projects on land that’s previously been permitted for deployments and collocation or replacement of radios on existing towers. “It shouldn’t take years for internet service providers to get approval to install or make simple repairs on federal land,” Barrasso said. “Streamlining the permitting process is a vital step in closing the digital divide in rural communities.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr hailed the Close the Gap Act, saying in a statement it “would accelerate high-speed Internet builds across rural and remote parts of the country. For too long, a cumbersome and outdated permitting process has delayed and deterred broadband builds on Federal lands,” where “installing Internet infrastructure is vital to reaching those communities that remain on the wrong side of the digital divide.” Barrasso’s office cited support from the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Dish, the Fiber Broadband Association, NCTA, NTCA, T-Mobile, The Permitting Institute, USTelecom and WTA.

RS Access CEO Noah Campbell met with aides to the four FCC commissioners on the agency’s Further NPRM on the lower 12 GHz band, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-442. The company is among those urging a rule change allowing use of the multichannel video and data distribution service band for fixed-wireless (see 2309110061). The company “advocated for modernized rules in the MVDDS Band, including high-powered, fixed point-to-multipoint services,” the filing said: “We further discussed RS Access’s support for voluntarily relinquishing up to 100 MHz of MVDDS spectrum on Tribal lands to provide capacity for high-powered, fixed two-way services for Tribes and Tribally affiliated organizations.”

Judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the FCC on how the commission structures its Universal Service Fund and oversees the role the Universal Service Administrative Co. plays in determining quarterly contribution factors during an en banc hearing Tuesday. Some pressed Consumers' Research on how the private nondelegation doctrine applied to its challenge of the Q1 2022 USF contribution factor (see 2309010060).

Judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the FCC on how the commission structures its Universal Service Fund and oversees the role the Universal Service Administrative Co. plays in determining quarterly contribution factors during an en banc hearing Tuesday. Some pressed Consumers' Research on how the private nondelegation doctrine applied to its challenge of the Q1 2022 USF contribution factor (see 2309010060).

The FCC has approved a draft order on updating broadcast television rules to reflect the digital transition and post-incentive auction repacking 4-0, according to FCC officials. The item had been set for the September open meeting, but was approved early. FCC Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn't vote on the item, FCC officials told us. The agency didn't comment on whether Gomez has been sworn in or taken office. The final order is said to be largely unchanged from the draft version announced earlier this month, and docket 22-227 shows that the item hasn’t drawn any lobbying activity since it was unveiled. The rule changes in the order “are mostly non-substantive and do not materially change the regulatory obligations of full power and Class A stations,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade asked the Commerce Department to conduct a review of the country's status as a non-market economy, telling the agency that the nation's "achievements in market opening and integration into the regional and global economy" stand as grounds for review. Seeking to build on the back of the 2013 comprehensive partnership agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam, the ministry asked for a changed circumstances review of its NME status.