House Commerce Advances NTIA Reauthorization Act, Other Tech and Telecom Bills
The House Commerce Committee easily advanced the NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-2482) and 10 other tech and telecom bills Tuesday, despite pushback from panel Democrats over SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's actions that led chamber leaders to jettison a December continuing resolution that included near-identical versions of most of the measures the committee was considering (see 2412170081).
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House Commerce cleared all 11 telecom and tech measures by lopsided bipartisan margins, in some instances on voice votes. Also on the docket: the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (HR-633), Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act (HR-859), Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security Act (HR-866), Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-906), Communications Security Act (HR-1717), OpenRAN Outreach Act (HR-2037), Rural Broadband Protection Act (HR-2399), Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhanced Networks Act (HR-2449), Secure Space Act (HR-2458) and Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act (HR-2480).
House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., unsuccessfully pushed for the panel to adopt HR-2482 and nine other tech and telecom bills on the agenda that were in the scuttled continuing resolution “as one bill” also containing legislative language from the resolution that the committee didn’t offer up Wednesday as separate measures. “Republicans repeatedly look the other way” on President Donald Trump’s actions and allow Musk, who leads Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency advisory group, “free rein to loot the American government, destroy our institutions, and illegally fire tens of thousands of public servants who go to work every day to serve the American people,” Pallone said.