Republicans’ return to a House majority is unlikely to mean a big shift in the chamber’s approach to space policy and legislative priorities since those matters have generally been an area of bipartisan cooperation, policy experts said in interviews. The House Commerce Committee made its first foray into space matters for this Congress Thursday via a Communications Subcommittee hearing (see 2301270076) that lobbyists saw as a precursor to panel leaders’ plans to prioritize advancing legislation to revamp the FCC’s satellite licensing rules. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., staked the panel's claim to a role in space policy, saying during the hearing it has "been far too long since Congress reassessed the role of satellite technology in the communications marketplace and whether or not our regulatory environment encourages investment and innovation in the space economy, or hampers it."
DirecTV is facing strong pushback from congressional Republicans over its recent decision to drop Newsmax from its channel lineup (see (Ref:2301250042]). Incoming Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and three other GOP leaders pressed DirecTV and main shareholders AT&T and TPG Wednesday to explain the action, which they consider new evidence of anti-conservative censorship. Former House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck of Colorado and more than a dozen other chamber Republicans blasted DirecTV on the floor Tuesday and promised hearings on the issue.
Unions representing workers at the FCC and other federal agencies criticized the Stopping Home Office Work's Unproductive Problems Act (HR-139) ahead of House passage of the measure, which would require the FCC and all other federal agencies to return to using the telework policies in place at the end of 2019. The measure would effectively require all federal employees who were working in the office before the COVID-19 pandemic to return to their former work locations. The House passed HR-139 221-206 amid strong Democratic opposition.
FCC nominee Gigi Sohn's supporters on and off Capitol Hill said recent reports on her role as an Electronic Frontier Foundation board member are baseless and discriminatory. The Senate Commerce Committee, meanwhile, appeared likely to hold its third confirmation hearing on Sohn sometime next week or the following one, despite calls from panel Republicans for a delay until March (see 2301260068), lobbyists told us. A hearing next week would be just days after Senate Commerce’s planned Thursday organizational meeting, which was considered the hurdle delaying progress on Sohn into February (see 2301200058). The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., asked NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Friday to “pause the disbursement” of money for its tribal broadband connectivity program (TBCP) until NTIA uses updated FCC broadband maps to “verify that all funds for applications submitted … will not be used to overbuild existing broadband service.” Thune also asked for a pause until NTIA addresses GAO’s call last week for the agency to institute better performance goals and measures for TBCP (see 2301240047) that can better “detect fraud” in the program. Thune and former Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., first raised concerns about TBCP in December (see 2212080051), soon after Thune began a bid for stronger oversight of all federal broadband programs. Davidson indicated in his response earlier this month to that initial query that NTIA was still reviewing the broadband maps the FCC released in November (see 2211100072), but “I am concerned that if NTIA does not use” the updated data “to review all TBCP application currently pending, awarded and disbursed,” the agency “will once again waste billions of taxpayer dollars” by funding overbuilding of existing networks, Thune said in a letter to Davidson we obtained. The GAO’s report, meanwhile, said NTIA hasn't done a fraud risk assessment of the program and the agency hasn’t “designated an entity to oversee fraud risk management.” “This mismanagement of the TBCP by NTIA is deeply concerning” since the agency already disbursed more than $1.7 billion in funding through the program, Thune said. NTIA didn’t comment.
The Democratic rosters for the Senate Commerce Committee and House Commerce Committee subpanels are changing only slightly for this Congress, after the House shift to a GOP majority and the Senate to outright Democratic control. Rep. Doris Matsui of California will be lead House Communications Subcommittee Democrat and former Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois will be Innovation Subcommittee ranking member, as expected (see 2211210058), said House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey. Republicans previously announced Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio will chair House Communications and Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida will chair Innovation (see 2301250066).
Senate Commerce Committee Republicans want to delay a third FCC confirmation hearing for Gigi Sohn until March, Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told us Thursday. Thune and other Republicans seek a complete re-vetting of Sohn. President Joe Biden renominated her earlier this month (see 2301030060). Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., confirmed she’s continuing to pursue a February date for the hearing in hopes of swiftly advancing Sohn to the floor after more than a year of delay (see 2212300044).
Incoming Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, objects to a proposal from panel Democratic leaders to have a third confirmation hearing on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn almost immediately after the committee formally organizes, Hill aides and lobbyists told us. Sohn’s supporters want Senate Commerce to expedite its handling of Sohn’s confirmation process as much as possible, but Republicans want a full re-vetting of the nominee (see 2301030060). Senate Commerce’s organization itself is unlikely until sometime next week given expectations Wednesday that the chamber won’t be able to vote on an overall organizing resolution until Tuesday at the earliest.
The Senate Commerce Committee’s schedule for reconsidering FCC nominee Gigi Sohn remained unclear before the chamber’s expected Monday return from a more than two-week recess, with lobbyists and other observers saying chamber organizational uncertainties are the main barrier. President Joe Biden renominated Sohn this month, setting up a third partisan showdown with Republicans after the Senate stalled her confirmation process in 2021 and 2022 (see 2301030060). Friday marked two years since the FCC began operating with a 2-2 split, following former Chairman Ajit Pai’s resignation the day Biden took office (see 2101210067).
Several of the nine Republicans the House GOP Steering Committee added to the Commerce Committee roster Wednesday have been involved in communications, cybersecurity and privacy policymaking. House GOP leadership, meanwhile, formally named Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., as Commerce chair Tuesday, as expected (see 2211170089). Former panel Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., will stay on as ranking member during this Congress (see 2301030064).