The House Commerce Committee voted 50-1 Wednesday to advance a revised version of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979), despite some members’ misgivings about including a shorter sunset period as a compromise with pro-automotive industry lawmakers. HR-979 and its Senate Commerce Committee-advanced companion, S-315, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology, mostly affecting electric vehicles (see 2502100072). The bill’s supporters unsuccessfully tried to attach it to a December 2024 continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations (see Ref:2412180033]).
The House Commerce Committee said Monday night that it plans to vote Wednesday on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979/S-315), as expected (see 2508080005). The bill would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology, mostly affecting electric vehicles. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced S-315 in February (see 2502100072). The bill’s supporters unsuccessfully tried to attach it to a December continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations (see Ref:2412180033]). House Commerce’s meeting Wednesday, which will also consider six other bills, will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday that he’s generally satisfied with how Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is playing out and raised doubts about whether the agency will plow further into the issue. The debate over Section 230 “is still alive,” but given changes by social media companies, Carr is in a “trust-but-verify posture,” he said at a Politico summit focused on AI.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing Thursday on 29 bills aimed at streamlining broadband permitting rules, many of which Republicans have filed in past Congresses and some they previously combined into the controversial American Broadband Deployment Act (see 2305240069). The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 34-28 Wednesday night to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s FY26 bill, which would cut NTIA’s annual funding, as expected (see 2509100065). The measure would drop NTIA’s annual appropriation to $47 million, which mirrors President Donald Trump’s funding request but would be 20% less than the agency got for FY 2024 and FY 2025 (see 2506020056 and 2403040083). House Appropriations CJS calls for giving the National Institute of Standards and Technology $1.28 billion, the Patent Office slightly less than $5 billion and the DOJ Antitrust Division $310 million.
SpaceX’s $17 billion purchase of EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum rights is a disruptive hit to L- and S-band satellite operators and their direct-to-device (D2D) plans, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said Thursday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce aerospace and space event in Washington. Also at the event, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said overregulation is one of the chief issues facing the commercial space industry.
Ten Senate Republicans want to mitigate parts of the GOP’s compromise on a spectrum pipeline framework, adopted in July via the budget reconciliation package, amid an ongoing push to excise language in the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) that would give the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45, 7 and 8 GHz bands (see 2509100064).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned Wednesday that a provision in the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) would give the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to veto commercial use of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands. Cruz told an NTIA spectrum symposium (see 2509100051) that he will fight that provision in Section 1564 of the bill. “To be clear, this is not consultation or collaboration on spectrum management,” Cruz said.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 35-28 early Wednesday morning to advance the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee’s FY 2026 funding bill after turning back Democrats’ bid to attach $535 million in advance CPB funding for FY 2028. The measure lacks language to restore any of the $1.1 billion in federal money for CPB that Congress clawed back in July via the 2025 Rescissions Act (see 2509030065). Meanwhile, House Appropriations appeared on track Wednesday afternoon to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s FY26 bill, which would cut NTIA’s annual funding (see 2507150086). The panel was still considering amendments at our deadline.
Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., a Congressional Next-Generation 911 Caucus co-chair, told us Monday night that she’s exploring shifting some pools of Department of Homeland Security money and other “offsets” from existing federal funding to pay for upgrades to the newer emergency technology, now that Congress has ruled out using spectrum auction revenue for that purpose (see 2507080065). Several other lawmakers have thus far not identified other funding alternatives (see 2509080055).