FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters Wednesday that he gave the 175-member House-side Republican Study Committee a “soup-to-nuts” closed-door briefing on his agenda, which participants said also touched on his opinion of the commission’s actions under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that drew frequent GOP derision. The House Commerce Committee, meanwhile, voted 29-19 along party lines late Tuesday night to adopt its oversight plan for the 119th Congress after a sometimes-rancorous debate over Democrats’ unsuccessful amendment that would expand the panel’s scrutiny of the FCC to include investigating “any instances in which the Commission or its officers, employees, or agents engages in or facilitates censorship or otherwise interferes with” freedom of speech (see 2502250065).
House Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger of Texas confirmed to us Tuesday that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will speak at the group’s Wednesday lunch meeting. Lobbyists noted reports that Carr would brief RSC about the commission’s investigation of Audacy’s KCBS San Francisco concerning the station’s broadcasting locations and identifying details of vehicles involved in an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in January (see 2502050051).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., probed White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director nominee Michael Kratsios’ views on repurposing midband spectrum during his Tuesday confirmation hearing. The tone of the lawmakers' questions reflected their disagreement about whether a spectrum title in a budget reconciliation package should involve reallocating parts of the DOD-controlled 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2502190068). Both cited Kratsios’ role as U.S. chief technology officer during the first Trump administration because it made him part of the White House and DOD's joint America’s Mid-Band Initiative Team. AMBIT worked in 2020 to allow sharing in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2010130033).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told us Monday night that he is unlikely to bring up for floor action this week a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. “We're doing” two other non-telecom CRA measures this week, led by Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and John Kennedy, R-La., Thune said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told us Monday night that he is unlikely to bring up for floor action this week a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. Reports circulated Friday that Senate leaders were eyeing floor action as soon as this week on S.J.Res. 7. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas and 12 other panel Republicans filed the CRA measure in late January.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders said Thursday night they have designated Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., as Communications Subcommittee chair and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., as ranking member, as expected (see 2412180052). Lujan chaired the subpanel during the two previous Congresses. Lobbyists said Fischer's elevation to the Senate Communications gavel will further amplify the importance of her vehement opposition to reallocating DOD-controlled spectrum, particularly the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2501070069). Also a senior Armed Services Committee member, Fischer emphasized that position during a Wednesday Senate Commerce hearing, which again put her at odds with panel Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas (see 2502190068).
Jones Day’s Yaakov Roth, husband of NTIA nominee Arielle Roth, withdrew Thursday as counsel to Maurine and Matthew Molak in their challenge in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a 2023 FCC declaratory ruling (docket 23-60641) clarifying that Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose eligible for E-rate funding (see 2411040061). Jones Day’s David Suska will still represent the Molaks, Yaakov Roth said in a letter to the 5th Circuit. Some lobbyists wondered whether the NTIA nominee’s Senate Commerce Committee critics would mention Yaakov Roth because of his role in the Molaks’ E-rate challenge and because he argued on behalf of plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of West Virginia v. EPA, which led the court in 2022 to fully adopt the “major questions” doctrine (see 2502040056).
American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling urged Capitol Hill on Thursday not to abandon hopes of mandating reallocation of some federal agencies’ spectrum as part of a budget reconciliation package. His argument came as DOD backers' lingering objections to reapportioning any military-controlled bands still threaten to derail that push (see 2502180058). Meanwhile, Spectrum for the Future pushed back Wednesday night against what it called “misleading claims” during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing (see 2502190068) that an FCC auction of DOD-controlled midband frequencies could generate $100 billion in revenue.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, seemed during and after a Wednesday panel hearing to be eyeing an escalation of his long-simmering battle with DOD and its most vociferous congressional supporters, who oppose legislation mandating reallocation of spectrum bands for 5G use, which they say could impact military incumbents. Cruz touted his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act during the hearing as the preferred language for an airwaves title in a budget reconciliation package, as expected (see 2502180058). Some witnesses strongly praised Cruz's proposal. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and many panel Democrats criticized it.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday afternoon directing the FCC, other “so-called independent” federal agencies and all other executive branch entities to “submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions” to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) “before publication in the Federal Register.” Trump said “it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch.” Then-President Bill Clinton's 1993 order that set up OIRA mostly exempted independent agencies but subjected them to some obligations.