The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, a “minibus” funding bill that includes reductions for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies but a slight increase for the DOJ Antitrust Division. President Joe Biden signed a continuing resolution (HR-7463) March 1 that extended federal appropriations for those agencies through Friday, March 8 (see 2403010072). The chamber is also set to vote this week on the 988 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act (HR-498) and NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) under suspension of the rules (see 2403010073).
The House is set to vote as soon as Tuesday night on the NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) and 988 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act (HR-498) under suspension of the rules, the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday. HR-498, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would amend the 2020 National Suicide Hotline Designation Act to require improved coordination and reporting on potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities within the 988 Lifeline, with the goal of mitigating future cyberattacks and preventing disruption of services (see 2304050080). The House Commerce-cleared HR-4510 would elevate the NTIA administrator from assistant secretary to undersecretary of Commerce and proposes other steps to improve coordination of federal spectrum (see 2307270063).
President Joe Biden signed off Friday on a continuing resolution (HR-7463) that extended federal appropriations for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 8. The measure also extends appropriations for the FCC and FTC through March 22. The Senate approved the CR 77-13 Thursday night, averting a partial government shutdown that would have otherwise closed RUS late Friday. The House passed it earlier Thursday (see 2402290076).
An all-but-certain bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune (S.D.) to take over as the chamber’s top Republican from current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is throwing uncertainty into lobbyists’ expectations for who will hold the party's subpanel leadership role in the next Congress. In the House, some Republican contenders to replace term-limited Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) have emerged, but the race to be the party’s Commerce Committee leader and other factors continue to cloud the subpanel sweepstakes (see 2402290054).
The House voted 320-99 Thursday to approve a continuing resolution (HR-7463) that would extend federal appropriations for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 8, averting a partial government shutdown that would otherwise close RUS late Friday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other congressional leaders said they reached a deal on appropriations measures covering those agencies, so the short-term extension would allow time for Congress to address individual funding measures. HR-7463 also extends appropriations for the FCC and FTC through March 22. The CR’s enactment prospects remained in doubt Thursday afternoon amid misgivings from some Senate Republicans, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hoped to hold a vote that evening.
Some foreign space regulators might soon struggle with a lack of space expertise, according to Scott Pace, George Washington University director-Space Policy Institute. During an FCC Space Bureau open house Thursday covering orbital debris, Pace said a lot of space agencies are born from telecom ministries, yet often there is a "thinness" to their capacity for space issues. That makes the U.S.' leadership role in space increasingly important, Pace said.
The nascent Republican leadership race to succeed retiring House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) is scrambling expectations as to who will hold the GOP's top seat on the House Communications Subcommittee in the next Congress, lobbyists and observers told us. Environment Subcommittee Chairman Buddy Carter, R-Ga., confirmed to us Thursday he’s interested in House Communications’ lead GOP seat, but other lawmakers are too. There’s even more uncertainty about what Republican will lead the delegation on the Senate Communications Subcommittee in the next Congress as ranking member John Thune (S.D.) is a likely contender to succeed Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as the party's chamber leader.
The Utah House voted 64-0 on Wednesday for a bill that requires content filters when minors use tablets and smartphones. Eleven members were absent or didn’t vote. Because the House amended the bill, SB-104 must return to the Senate. Utah senators previously voted 25-3 in favor of the measure (see 2402070074). Meanwhile, lawmakers in other states advanced privacy and social media legislation this week. The West Virginia House voted 91-0 Wednesday for a consumer privacy bill (HB-5338) and sent it to the Senate. On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate voted 37-15 for another comprehensive privacy bill (SB-473), sending the measure to the House. On Monday, the Georgia Senate voted 51-1 for a measure requiring education for children about social media and the internet (SB-351). On Tuesday in Virginia, the House Commerce Committee voted 21-0 to advance a kids’ privacy bill (SB-361) that would add children-specific protections to the state’s comprehensive consumer privacy law. The Senate previously passed the bill 40-0 (see 2402120072). Also that day, the Missouri House Innovation Committee cleared HB-2141, which would prohibit state employees from using TikTok (see 2401030014). In Florida, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee approved SB-1448 Tuesday, requiring platforms that foreign adversaries own to disclose how they curate, personalize and target content and how they address misinformation and harmful content. A House version of the bill advanced last week (see 2402220051).
Wireless carrier facilities in Hawaii would need eight hours of emergency backup power under a bill the state's House Commerce Committee cleared Tuesday. The panel voted 10-0 for HB-2710. The Technology Committee earlier passed it 8-0. The full House could vote next.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., asked DOD and NTIA Wednesday for an explanation of how they will conduct new studies of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, which the Biden administration's national spectrum strategy requires (see 2311130048). Both lawmakers strongly supported the House Commerce Committee-cleared Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which proposes selling part of the lower 3 GHz band (see 2305240069). Lawmakers are grappling with reshaping a spectrum legislative package amid stalled talks and the DOD's negative findings last year about the effect that potential 5G use of the lower 3 GHz band would have on incumbent military systems (see 2312280044). The DOD “assessment found that non-federal operations are feasible if certain advanced interference mitigation features and a coordination framework are put in place,” Latta and Matsui said in a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman. The national spectrum strategy's lower 3 GHz mandate provides an “opportunity to build upon” DOD's earlier findings by “studying additional private-sector access” on the band. “Clearly articulating the processes your agencies will use to study this band will help provide certainty for both federal and non-federal users,” the lawmakers said. They emphasized that NTIA developed the strategy “consistent with its statutory role as the sole agency responsible for authorizing Federal spectrum use.” They want insight from Davidson and Sherman about how DOD and NTIA will “co-lead” work on the new studies and “ensure a consistent and evidence-based process is used to establish methodology, assumptions, and parameters.” The legislators also want details about steps the agencies will “take to ensure all opportunities for commercial use in the Lower 3 GHz are fully considered and all relevant stakeholders have the ability to participate.”