Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said Tuesday that he is pushing for his Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act (S-838) to be part of an upcoming GOP-led budget reconciliation package. He and other lawmakers at Incompas' Policy Summit were divided along party lines over a push within the Commerce Department and Congress to revamp NTIA’s $42.5 billion BEAD program. Meanwhile, Moran appeared to lean in favor of repurposing some federally controlled spectrum even as he emphasized that lawmakers must “straddle” the interests of the wireless industry and U.S. military as they negotiate the matter as part of reconciliation (see 2502190068).
The Senate Commerce Committee was eyeing a March 13 confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth and potentially also FCC nominee Olivia Trusty, but that panel wasn’t final as of Thursday afternoon, several communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. President Donald Trump nominated Roth, Senate Commerce Republicans’ telecom policy director, in early February (see 2502040056). Trump picked Trusty, a Senate Armed Services Committee Republican staffer, for the FCC seat that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel vacated Jan. 20 (see 2501160077).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and other GOP leaders are optimistic, but not yet certain, that they have the votes on their side of the aisle to pass 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. Chamber Democrats are vowing to fight S.J.Res. 7 if leaders bring up the measure for a vote, which lobbyists said could happen as soon as next week. Supporters and opponents of the E-rate expansion are eyeing a handful of Republicans they believe are reluctant to rescind the FCC’s order.
President Donald Trump urged lawmakers Tuesday night to “get rid” of the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which allocated $52 billion for domestic semiconductor manufacturing (see 2207280060). The law “is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said during his Tuesday night speech to a joint session of Congress. He asked House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to use “whatever’s left over” in unobligated Chips and Science Act funding “to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.” Trump was sharply critical of the statute during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying subsidies were a bad idea (see 2412090046). Johnson drew heat himself during the closing days of the campaign by first calling for Congress to repeal the Chips and Science Act and then quickly reversing course (see 2411040062).
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday he’s launching a “rigorous review” of NTIA's $42.5 billion BEAD program and will be “ripping out … pointless requirements” that the Biden administration included in the initiative’s original notice of funding opportunity, which Republicans repeatedly criticized last year. House Communications Subcommittee members divided sharply along party lines during a Wednesday hearing over Republicans’ push to revamp BEAD, including the newly filed Streamlining Program Efficiency and Expanding Deployment (Speed) for BEAD Act from subpanel Chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina and other GOP lawmakers.
ACA Connects CEO Grant Spellmeyer and two other communications industry executives set to appear at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday urge lawmakers in written testimony to revamp the NTIA-administered, $42.5 billion BEAD program. Some also say they want quick congressional action on a potential U.S. Supreme Court overturn of USF’s funding mechanism. Sarah Morris, acting deputy NTIA administrator during the Biden administration, is also set to testify. Her written statement wasn’t available Tuesday afternoon. The panel will begin at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told us Wednesday that she has firmed up a late March date for a hearing with PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher to examine claims that public broadcasters’ content has a pro-Democratic bias (see 2502030064). Greene earlier this month proposed March 24 as one potential date for the hearing. The panel will take place amid growing GOP interest in ending federal funding for the broadcasters.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr attempted to strike a balance during his Thursday post-commission meeting news conference in his response to a question about where he stands in the battle that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is waging against DOD opposition to reallocating any military-controlled spectrum for commercial wireless use (see 2502190068). Carr said policymakers “can find a path forward” to increase spectrum availability that will also “fully protect the interests of our national security” and DOD.
Backers of federal funding for next-generation 911 tech upgrades told us they remain hopeful that lawmakers will reach an agreement on a spectrum title in a budget reconciliation measure that allocates some revenue from future FCC sales to those projects. GOP leaders have been pushing to reserve that money entirely as an offset for tax cuts initially enacted during the first Trump administration (see 2502190068). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas and other Republicans are emphasizing auction proceeds as a reconciliation funding source after repeatedly opposing several spectrum packages during the last Congress that used the potential money to pay for a range of telecom projects (see 2308100058).
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).