Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., said Thursday night he has secured commitments from chamber leaders to move forward on allocating $6 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program amid last-minute talks to pass an FAA reauthorization package. The Senate was still voting Thursday night on passing an amended version of the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) that doesn’t include the ACP/rip-and-replace language Lujan and others sought, as expected.
The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee rescheduled a postponed Wednesday hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 federal funding request (see 2405030068) for May 16, the panel said Monday. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn. The House Commerce Committee confirmed Monday a postponed Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY25 budget request would happen at “a later date.”
The expiration of FCC auction authority was a problem that could have been avoided, House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said during CTIA’s 5G Summit Monday (see 2405060051). Congress should strike a deal now that restores auction authority, she said. “With a hamstrung FCC, we're going to be limited in what we can achieve,” Matsui said. “I don't think we can afford to wait any longer.” The U.S. is at a “crossroads,” Matsui said: “Networks are converging, consumer demand is skyrocketing, and global competition is heating up. In short, the stakes couldn't be higher.” The lapse of auction authority more than a year ago was “an avoidable failure,” she said. Matsui called for “a more nimble and predictable spectrum governance regime” and for flexibility from government and industry. “Vital federal missions cannot be jeopardized -- we all agree on that -- but uncompromising rigidity in defining the tools needed for those missions can result in federal paralysis,” she said. The government’s study of the lower 3 GHz band, the national spectrum strategy's requirement, must be “driven by engineering and science” and the Commerce Committee will make sure that happens, Matsui said. In addition, she stressed the importance of Congress funding an extension of the affordability connectivity program (see 2405020072). Despite all the money spent on deploying broadband, without "affordability we can't have the connectivity we need,” she said. For House Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, the challenge of crafting legislation on 5G issues and the future of communications is avoiding anything that slows progress. “A lot of times when I talk to the industry, they're way past us,” Latta said. “The last thing we want to do is pass legislation where [we’re] looking in the rearview mirror,” he said. Latta said he keeps an open door and wants industry input. “You got ideas, suggestions, you've got problems, let us know what they are,” he said. Latta remains concerned about the broadband equity, access and deployment program and other spending initiatives. “The federal government should not be out there picking winners and losers,” he said. In addition, Latta is concerned about overbuilding current networks. He said fellow lawmakers find it difficult "to believe and understand that we have over 130 different broadband programs spread across 15 departments and agencies … administering billions of dollars.”
Congressional Republicans’ recent renewed interest in ending federal funding for NPR is a major issue in a memo from House Commerce Committee GOP aides and in written testimony from witnesses ahead of a Wednesday Oversight Subcommittee hearing on recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at the public broadcasting network (see 2405010081). Several Republican lawmakers filed legislation or are eyeing crafting measures aimed at ending NPR’s federal funding (see 2404190060), including the Defund NPR Act (HR-8083). The Commerce Oversight hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Minnesota won’t craft a law that might put the state's $652 million allocation from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program in jeopardy, Senate Broadband Committee Chair Aric Putnam (D) pledged shortly after midnight Tuesday. Up late considering a labor budget bill that included an industry-opposed broadband safety proposal, senators voted 35-32 to reject amendments from Sen. Gene Dornink (R) that would have scrapped the worker safety plan.
A Minnesota lawmaker and a labor group pushed back Monday against the telecom industry's opposition to advancing a proposal on broadband workforce safety. The state's Senate planned to weigh the measure as part of a labor omnibus (HF-5242), but senators hadn’t voted by our deadline. The Minnesota Cable Association (MCA), Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) and the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) warned Gov. Tim Walz (D) that the proposal would discourage carriers from seeking federal broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and other high-speed internet grants.
The House Appropriations and Commerce committees postponed a pair of hearings scheduled for this week on the FCC's FY 2025 funding request (see 2404300068), the panels' spokespersons separately confirmed Friday. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the other four commissioners were set to testify at a Tuesday Communications hearing on the budget proposal. Rosenworcel was to appear at a Wednesday Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee panel. Neither of the committees announced makeup dates for the hearings Friday. Rosenworcel's brother, Brian Rosenworcel of the band Guster, announced the death of their father, Elliott, Thursday night. House Appropriations, Commerce and the FCC didn't comment on whether the hearings' delay was in response to the news.
The Disney/Fox/Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming joint venture (see 2402070006) "will eventually dominate the distribution market for live sports and will drive out competition," programming distributors and programmers along with advocacy group allies said Thursday in a letter to House and Senate Commerce and Judiciary committee chairs and ranking members. Consumer interests are never served when an important industry like live sports "is effectively controlled by three programming giants which decided to combine forces instead of competing against each other," they said. The letter requests a hearing on pay TV. Behind the letter were Fubo TV, DirecTV, Dish Network, Newsmax, Sports Fan Coalition, American Economic Liberties Project, Open Markets Institute and Electronic Frontier Foundation. House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, raised similar concerns in a letter last month to the JV members (see 2404170067).
House Commerce Committee GOP leaders said Wednesday they’ve opened an investigation into recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at NPR. Several congressional Republicans filed or are eyeing legislation aimed at ending NPR’s federal funding in response to the bias reports, including the Defund NPR Act (HR-8083) (see 2404190060). Past attempts at halting NPR's portion of CPB federal funding have failed, including a bid during the FY 2024 cycle by Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas (see 2311030069). The House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee summoned NPR CEO Katherine Maher to testify at a May 8 hearing. Panel leaders want her to respond by May 14 to a range of questions about the political viewpoint balance within the broadcasting network. House Commerce “has concerns about the direction in which NPR may be headed under past and present leadership,” said panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Oversight Chairman Morgan Griffith (Va.). in a Tuesday letter to Maher. “As a taxpayer funded, public radio organization, NPR should focus on fair and objective news reporting that both considers and reflects the views of the larger U.S. population and not just a niche audience.” Committee Republicans also “find it disconcerting that NPR’s coverage of major news in recent years has been so polarized as to preclude any need to uncover the truth,” the lawmakers said: “These have included news stories on matters of national security and importance,” including “the COVID-19 origins investigation” and scrutiny into the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. “On each of these issues, NPR has been accused of approaching its news reporting with an extreme left-leaning lens,” the Republicans said. NPR didn’t comment.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).