Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled their AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act Wednesday, as expected (see 2412180033). The measure, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate inclusion of AM radio in future automobiles, a rule expected to mostly affect electric vehicles (see 2409180047). Cruz and other bill backers unsuccessfully attempted in December to attach it to a continuing resolution that extended federal appropriations through March 14. House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., told us he plans to refile a House companion. Cruz said AM radio “is consistently the most reliable form of communication and is critical to keep millions of Texans safe.” Markey added that millions “of listeners across the country have made clear that they want AM radio to remain in their vehicles." NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and National Religious Broadcasters CEO Troy Miller praised Cruz and Markey for refiling the measure. “Time and again, AM radio has proven itself as an irreplaceable resource in emergencies, keeping families safe and communities informed when every second counts,” LeGeyt said. In Miller's statement, he said: “Further, its diversity of programming and reach remain unique amongst all audio media.” AM radio “uplifts, entertains, and informs listeners all over the country,” he said.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) isn't likely to make much headway with the 119th Congress absent a major revamp, tech policy panelists said Wednesday at a Congressional Internet Caucus event, which also featured some panelists disagreeing on the FCC's role in cybersecurity enforcement.
The White House OMB rescinded its stayed memo that called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, bowing to mounting criticism of the plan’s breadth even after it partially walked it back Tuesday (see 2501280051). The now-rescinded freeze would have paused NTIA’s disbursal of $42.5 billion from the BEAD program and other Commerce Department initiatives, commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick acknowledged during his Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other leaders acknowledged in recent interviews that long-standing DOD objections to repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other military-controlled frequencies remain an impediment to GOP hopes of using an upcoming budget reconciliation package to move on spectrum legislation (see 2501070069). Lawmakers and lobbyists said DOD concerns could prevent Congress from including anything beyond a simple restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority in a reconciliation package, an outcome that would fall short of wireless industry wishes for a refilled spectrum pipeline.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an administrative stay late Tuesday afternoon that temporarily blocked a White House OMB memo, which called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, from going into effect. The Trump administration memo already faced an array of legal challenges, including a planned lawsuit from a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Broadband officials and industry advocates raised questions about the memo's constitutionality and the future of certain FCC programs, such as Lifeline. Others warned the freeze could have serious implications for NTIA's BEAD program.
USTelecom urged legislative action to shore up lawmakers’ mandate for the USF amid the “existential threat” posed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2024 en banc decision that the program’s contribution factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043). The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the 5th Circuit’s ruling (see 2501170046). In an open letter Friday, USTelecom said Congress should “reaffirm” its bipartisan will to maintain USF “and reform how the program is funded.” It added, “Reform must begin by requiring Big Tech companies that benefit massively from universal connectivity to join in contributing to this vital national commitment.” Some lawmakers and other observers believe Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, may move Congress’ USF revamp toward making the program subject to the federal appropriations process (see 2411270060). In addition, USTelecom said NTIA, under President Donald Trump, “should roll back rate regulation and other requirements” for the $42.5 billion BEAD program “that Congress never asked for, while retaining a significant role for fiber, the high-speed broadband gold standard.” Removing BEAD requirements Congress didn’t mandate in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “would shed the unwanted baggage and accelerate what matters most -- getting the work of connecting everyone done,” USTelecom said. “Restoring a tight focus on the mission -- broadband deployment – can dramatically accelerate efforts to fill gaps in high-speed service, helping unlock economic opportunities and access to innovation throughout” the country. USTelecom also urged lawmakers to “move again” on the American Broadband Deployment Act permitting package that the House Commerce Committee approved in 2023 (see 2305240069). The measure, which groups together more than 20 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills, drew unanimous opposition from House Commerce Democrats, and local government groups continued lobbying against it last year (see 2409180052). “Congress should green light speeding up approvals for more broadband projects on federal lands,” USTelecom said: “With a third of our nation’s land under federal control, federal permitting reform would provide an immediate adrenaline shot to the capacity, sophistication, reach and security of our nation’s information infrastructure.”
An auction of AWS-3 licenses returned to the FCC by affiliates of Dish Network in 2023 is expected to start and possibly end this year, wireless industry experts said. In addition, the auction will offer unsold licenses from the initial Auction 97, the AWS-3 auction 10 years ago. The FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the auction, allows 18 months for it to be held. It would be the FCC’s first auction of spectrum for full-power licensed use since 2022, with part of the proceeds going to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
House Commerce Committee leaders drew battle lines during and after a Thursday Communications Subcommittee hearing over GOP proposals to move spectrum legislation as part of an upcoming budget reconciliation package (see 2501070069). House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey and other Democrats strongly objected to using reconciliation as a spectrum vehicle because it would allocate future license sales revenue to fund tax cuts instead of telecom priorities. Lawmakers from both parties again cited long-standing DOD objections to repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other military-controlled frequencies as a continued flashpoint in spectrum legislative talks in this Congress (see 2501070069).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., hopes President Donald Trump and lawmakers can resolve the TikTok divestiture uncertainty amid the White House’s 75-day pause in enforcement of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act’s requirement that ByteDance sell the platform (see 2501210070). “We’ve given every tool possible” to combat Chinese government influence over the app, including the divest-or-ban statute, Cantwell said on the Senate floor. “Now it’s time to get this into the hands of U.S. innovators and move forward.” She doesn’t “know that a joint venture with the Chinese is going to rectify” those concerns. “They can’t continue to own and influence this process,” Cantwell said. “But U.S. innovation and U.S. ownership can drive us forward, can drive a better experience for our young people” who use TikTok. She hailed “agentic AI” as helping consumers “control the algorithms that billionaires or foreign governments have been using to control us.” The technology will help people “take in massive amounts of information from the internet ... and then apply filters ... so that we only get the information that we want to see and not what somebody else wants to do with our information.”
The Chips and Science Act of 2022, which has successfully funded the launch of U.S. facilities where chips are made, and it's unlikely President Donald Trump will reverse its work, experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Trump was sharply critical of the act as a presidential candidate, saying that subsidies were a bad idea (see 2412090046).