Leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees remain interested in continuing to pursue a broad media policy legislative revamp in 2020, after negotiations on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization language resulted in a skinny renewal measure that addressed few additional issues (see 1912190068). President Donald Trump signed the FY 2020 federal appropriations minibus bill (HR-1865) two weeks ago that contained the STELA renewal language (see 1912240001).
House and Senate Commerce Committee leaders told us they’re aiming to return after the holiday recess to talks on legislation aimed at allocating proceeds from a pending FCC spectrum auction of in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wasn’t able to reach an agreement with Democratic lawmakers (see 1912160061) to attach language from his C-band-centric 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) to one of two FY 2020 minibus appropriations bills (HR-1158/HR-1865) that President Donald Trump signed last week. Some officials and lobbyists we spoke with are skeptical the lawmakers can reach an agreement that will bridge the divide that prevented a deal on S-2881.
The Commerce Department confirmed Monday it designated Doug Kinkoph as acting NTIA administrator. Former acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo left NTIA last week, just seven months after David Redl's own abrupt exit as agency head (see 1912160049). NTIA described Kinkoph's temporary role as "performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information." Kinkoph had been Rinaldo's deputy and was delegated to oversee wireless issues while she ran the agency (see 1905140063). Rinaldo had recused herself from handling spectrum deployment issues because her husband works as a lobbyist for T-Mobile.
2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls touched only lightly on tech and telecom this time (see 1911210046) during Thursday's debate. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang raised the specter of China’s advancements. Yang said “our kids are addicted to smartphones or drugs.” He raised concerns about China's having a significant edge over the U.S. in artificial intelligence because of Chinese government investment. China “banned face masks in Hong Kong” because the government has “AI technology that now is using facial recognition to identify protesters … and detain them later,” Yang said. “This is the rivalry that we have to win where China is concerned. They're in the process of leapfrogging us in AI because they have more data than we do and their government is subsidizing it to the tune of tens of billions of dollars." The U.S. must “build an international coalition to set technology standards and then you can bring the Chinese to the table,” Yang said. Buttigieg said the U.S. should “acknowledge” China’s “use of technology for the perfection of dictatorship.” That “is going to require a stronger than ever response from the U.S. in defense of democracy, but when folks out there standing up for democracy hear not a peep from” President Donald Trump, “what message is that sending to the Chinese Communist Party?” Buttigieg asked. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., again berated Amazon. The tech giant “unites my three brothers,” who despite their conflicting political views “are furious that Amazon reported $10 billion in profits and paid zero in taxes,” Warren said. The company didn't comment Friday.
Former NTIA Administrator David Redl was on Capitol Hill Thursday for meetings with people he described to us as “old friends.” Redl was the House Commerce Committee's chief GOP telecom policy counsel before the Senate confirmed him in 2017 to lead NTIA (see 1711070084). He resigned from the agency in May (see 1905090051). Redl’s appearance came days after Diane Rinaldo resigned as acting NTIA administrator, which itself sparked renewed questions about morale there (see 1912160049). House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us he hadn't met with Redl. Other top telecom-focused lawmakers’ offices said they hadn’t scheduled meetings with Redl, while others didn’t comment.
The Senate passed several telecom measures Thursday, including the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders called the bills part of a series of 2019 tech and telecom successes. They also noted some policy priorities for 2020.
NTIA acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo's exit (see 1912160022) about seven months after former Administrator David Redl’s abrupt departure likely means more turmoil ahead, industry observers said Monday. Rinaldo will apparently be replaced by Treasury Department acting Deputy Assistant Secretary-International Affairs Edward Hearst, lobbyists and observers said. It's unclear whether Hearst would be taking over as acting administrator or would be nominated to the role. The White House, NTIA, the Commerce Department and Treasury didn't comment.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., is unconcerned former Vice President Joe Biden hasn’t said publicly whether he would support restoring FCC-rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules if elected president next year. Biden is among the few 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who hasn’t taken a clear position on the issue (see 1908260053). “I feel confident” that if Biden becomes president, “he would work with” Congress and the FCC to bring back some form of the 2015 rules, Doyle told C-SPAN’s The Communicators, posted online Friday and set to have been televised this past weekend. “People across America” regardless of their party affiliation “would like to see us do something” on net neutrality but “I don’t see it as a primary issue” in voters’ decisions. Doyle led the House-passed Save the Internet Act (HR-1644), which would undo FCC rescission of the rules and restore reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1904100062). Doyle doesn’t “spend too much time worrying about” what any of the current 17 Democratic candidates’ positions are on tech and telecom given the large size of the field. He similarly deflected questions about a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to “instruct the FCC to regulate broadband internet rates” (see 1912060066) and broadband funding plans from Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that appear to eschew allocating money to for-profit ISPs. House Commerce Committee Democrats “don’t base our policy on what one or two people running for president might say,” Doyle said. “Our committee has always worked in a bipartisan fashion.” He emphasized House Commerce’s ability to reach consensus, noting the committee advanced by voice vote his Television Viewer Protection Act. HR-5035 would make permanent some parts of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (see 1911200048). That bill is part of the basis for a bicameral STELA deal expected to be attached to FY 2020 federal spending legislation Congress may vote on this week (see 1912110038).
Some officials and lobbyists believe legislative efforts to repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 and combat state and local-level diversion of 911 fees are unlikely to advance until the new year. Those issues are now tied to a bid to attach language on a pending FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to FY 2020 federal spending bills. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is pushing to attach language from his C-band-centric 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) to the spending bills despite Democrats' opposition. Senate Commerce last week approved adding language from the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451/S-2748) and the 911 Fee Integrity Act (HR-2165) to S-2881 (see 1912110038).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set a Monday cloture vote on the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (S-1790), which includes language targeting Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The House approved the measure Wednesday 377-48. The House and Senate Armed Services committees released the conference text earlier this week after months of work to blend (see 1907220053) the Senate and House-passed (HR-2500) measures. The conference NDAA includes a modified version of House-side anti-Huawei language originally sought by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., that would modify conditions for the Commerce Department to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security’s addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). It would require Huawei to prove it “sufficiently resolved or settled” supply chain security issues that led to its inclusion on the BIS entity list (see 1905160081). Commerce has since approved export licenses (see 1911210027) for U.S. companies to have their products included in Huawei's equipment. The bill also includes Gallagher’s proposal to direct the president to report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). The measure includes a Senate-cleared proposal from Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., that would require the director of national intelligence report the extent “global and regional adoption” of foreign-made 5G technology affects U.S. national security. The study would look at how the nation's “strategy to reduce foreign influence and political pressure in international standard-setting bodies” could help mitigate the threat. The NDAA includes language from the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act, which would give the federal government sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and preempt state and local governments' role (see 1802070052). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, filed the bill in response to the January 2018 false missile emergency alert in Hawaii (see 1801160054). NDAA conferees agreed to remove Senate-cleared language telling DOD to work with the FCC and NTIA to establish a spectrum sharing R&D program. House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and others raised concerns about the language because they believe it could undermine NTIA’s role in making spectrum allocation decisions for the federal government (see 1909180048). The conference text also doesn’t include House-cleared language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act. HR-1629/S-1015 would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to "protective service occupations" (see 1904050054).