Incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., plans on introducing comprehensive and kids’ privacy bills in the new year, he told us Tuesday.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., clarified that he hasn’t yet been selected as Senate Communications Subcommittee chairman for the next Congress despite filling in during a subpanel hearing last week (see 2412110067) for current ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. Current Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico is hopeful but not certain that he will remain the subpanel’s lead Democrat next year. Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, who will be House Commerce Committee chairman in the next Congress, said he’s adding 10 current and incoming Republican lawmakers to the panel.
The House plans votes this week under suspension of the rules on the Promoting U.S. Wireless Leadership Act (HR-1377), an amended version of the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act (HR-3293) and Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act (HR-3343). The House Commerce Committee advanced the three measures last year. HR-1377 would direct NTIA to encourage U.S. companies and others to participate in international standards-setting bodies (see 2303240065). HR-3293 would direct NTIA to lead an interagency strike force to help prioritize reviews for communications use authorization requests to deploy on federal land (see 2305240069). HR-3343 would require NTIA to submit a plan to Congress for tracking acceptance and processing of communications use authorizations on federal property. In addition, it would require that NTIA identify any barriers to that plan and how to increase transparency for authorization applicants.
NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said during a Thursday Broadband Breakfast event he intends to resign Jan. 20, declaring the day President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to office as the end of his leadership of the agency. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel plans on leaving the same day (see 2411210028). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and some other event participants predicted potential changes in NTIA’s $42.5 billion BEAD program once Republicans have unified control of government upon Trump’s inauguration, but suggested it’s less clear how spectrum policymaking may change next year.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a Wednesday Communications Subcommittee hearing criticized FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s draft declaratory ruling last week finding that Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Section (CALEA) Section 105 requires telecom carriers to secure their networks against cyberattacks (see 2412050044). Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become chairman Jan. 20, told reporters Wednesday he believes the commission’s response to the Salt Typhoon Chinese government-affiliated effort at hacking U.S. telecom networks (see 2411190073) should focus on continuing to “closely” coordinate with other federal cyber-related agencies and identify vulnerabilities to the private sector.
House Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., cited work to “beat China” and “protect our children online” Monday night as among his Commerce Committee priorities for the next Congress after the House Republican Steering Committee said earlier in the afternoon it selected him as the panel's next chairman (see 2412090072). Guthrie prevailed in the Commerce gavel race over current Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, who is term-limited out of that role at the end of this Congress. The full House GOP conference still must sign off on Guthrie’s selection, but this is typically a formality. Guthrie said Monday night he is “honored that my colleagues have selected me to serve as” the next Commerce chairman. He plans to “work alongside” President-elect Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and other GOP leaders to “deliver on our America First agenda.” A Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-chair and a past House Communications member, Guthrie said earlier this year an airwaves legislative package would be a top priority if he became Commerce chairman, and it didn't already pass this year (see 2404110059). Guthrie also backs a Universal Service Fund revamp (see 2411270060). Retiring House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., praised Guthrie's “leadership, determination, and policy acumen.” She is “confident that he will rise to this historic moment of unified Republican control of government to deliver on issues and policies at the forefront of powering our economy,” including on tech issues. Latta also applauded Guthrie, as did several communications industry groups. USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said Guthrie’s “leadership and dedication to expanding broadband access have been instrumental in connecting communities across the nation.” As Commerce chairman, Guthrie “will bring focus and common sense leadership as we work together to advance our shared goal of universal connectivity,” Spalter said. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said Guthrie “understands firsthand the needs of rural communities and the benefits of connectivity for commerce, education and healthcare in these areas.” In a statement, Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan praised Guthrie for being “a longtime leader on spectrum, security and rural connectivity issues.”
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned Saturday that “rhetoric” on China is no substitute for the hard work of making the U.S. a stronger competitor in areas like semiconductor chips, which are critical to the U.S. wireless and other industries. “Today, more than ever, national security requires technological security, requires the United States to lead … all of our competitors in technology, particularly in AI and semiconductors, and requires secure supply chains,” she told the Reagan Defense Forum in California. Raimondo was asked about President-elect Donald Trump's comments, made during the campaign, that he opposes subsidies in the Chips and Science Act of 2022 and that the act was a bad deal for the U.S., Responding to calls for overturning the act, Raimondo said, “It’s a horrific idea. It’s a reckless idea. ... Sometimes you say things on the stump, and I can only hope that was something to be said on the stump and won’t be acted out.” In November, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted interest in having the House repeal the Chips Act but reversed course following a bipartisan outcry (see 2411040062). Raimondo noted that 100% “of leading-edge chips used in fighter jets, AI technology, nuclear simulation, drones” are made in China and Taiwan. By the end of the year, the department expects to complete $35 billion of the $39 billion allocated in awards to 26 companies to build plants in the U.S. In addition, it expects it will award nearly all $11 billion targeted for research funding. “We’re getting the job done,” she said. "It has been brutally difficult.” Taiwan’s TSMC makes 100% of the world’s most sophisticated chips and people said the company would never expand in the U.S., Raimondo said: “Wrong -- they’re doing it” and TSMC is building three facilities in Arizona. “It’s an incredible thing, and you’re all safer because of it.” Raimondo said ultimately the U.S. will need to invest more to compete with China. She noted that China is now building 21 semiconductor factories. Permitting reforms are critical, she noted. “It can’t take two years to go through permitting in order to build a factory -- that is not competitive."
Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and some other congressional leaders are objecting to a compromise version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5009) released Saturday night with language allocating $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2412070001). The leaders’ concerns complicate plans for HR-5009's passage. House leaders are eyeing a vote on the measure this week. Meanwhile, some lawmakers want to attach the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-8449) and permanently lift some telehealth restrictions via other end-of-year measures.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that a federal law banning TikTok unless its Chinese government-controlled owners divest from it is constitutional. TikTok, parent company ByteDance and a group of TikTok users had challenged the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The ban “does not suppress content or require a certain mix of content” but “narrowly addresses foreign adversary control of an important medium of communication in the United States,” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote in the majority opinion. Because the law doesn’t target content of speech on TikTok but instead the ability of China to covertly manipulate that content, it “is wholly consonant with the First Amendment,” Ginsburg wrote. The evidence and judgment of Congress and the White House that TikTok is a national security threat “is entitled to significant weight,” Ginsburg added. “In this case, a foreign government threatens to distort free speech on an important medium of communication,” and the law would end China’s control over that medium, Ginsburg said. “Understood in that way, the Act actually vindicates the values that undergird the First Amendment.” A ban of the social media platform is set to take effect Jan. 19. Unless TikTok executes a qualified divestiture by then or the White House grants it a 90-day extension before then, “its platform will effectively be unavailable in the United States, at least for a time,” said the order. President-elect Donald Trump, who opposes the TikTok ban after kicking off the effort during his first term, takes office Jan. 20. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, praised the D.C. Circuit ruling as “a major win for the rule of law.” House Commerce unanimously advanced the TikTok divestiture measure in March (see 2403070063). “From the beginning, Congress gave TikTok a very clear choice: Divest from your parent company -- which is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party -- and remain operational in the U.S. or side with the CCP and face the consequence,” Rodgers and Latta said. “The United States will always stand up for our values and freedom, which is why the days of TikTok targeting, surveilling, and manipulating Americans are numbered.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, an early vocal proponent of the ban effort, didn’t comment.
The House Republican Steering Committee said Monday afternoon they selected Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky to lead Commerce Committee in the next Congress. Guthrie prevailed over current Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, who is term-limited out of that role at the end of this Congress. The full House GOP conference still needs to approve Guthrie's selection. Guthrie, a Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-chair and a past House Communications member, said earlier this year an airwaves legislative package would be be a top priority if he became House Commerce chairman and such legislation didn't already pass this year (see 2404110059). Guthrie also backs a Universal Service Fund revamp (see 2411270060). Latta congratulated Guthrie shortly after the vote.