The House Appropriations and Commerce committees postponed a pair of hearings scheduled for this week on the FCC's FY 2025 funding request (see 2404300068), the panels' spokespersons separately confirmed Friday. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the other four commissioners were set to testify at a Tuesday Communications hearing on the budget proposal. Rosenworcel was to appear at a Wednesday Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee panel. Neither of the committees announced makeup dates for the hearings Friday. Rosenworcel's brother, Brian Rosenworcel of the band Guster, announced the death of their father, Elliott, Thursday night. House Appropriations, Commerce and the FCC didn't comment on whether the hearings' delay was in response to the news.
Top Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) backers Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Thursday they plan to press forward with an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the ailing FCC broadband program (see 2405010055) despite opposition from Senate leaders. ACP stopgap funding advocates used a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing that day to implore that Congress act while critics raised objections about what they said was a lack of clear information about the program's efficacy.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a lead GOP co-sponsor of the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565), confirmed Wednesday he will push hard for an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding to keep the ailing FCC broadband program running through the end of the fiscal year. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935).
The Senate Commerce Committee will likely advance an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act during a Wednesday executive session with unanimous support from the panel’s 14 Democratic members, but lobbyists will watch closely how many Republicans don’t openly object to the measure as a means of determining its viability. The spectrum bill, led by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction mandate through Sept. 30, 2029. The measure proposes using future license sales revenue to repay a proposed loan to the commission to fund the affordable connectivity program in FY 2024 and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2404250061).
Alliance for Automotive Innovation President John Bozzella and CTA CEO Gary Shapiro sharply criticize a draft revised version of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act in written statements ahead of their testimony at a Tuesday Innovation Subcommittee hearing. Conversely, Navajo Nation Washington Office Executive Director Justin Ahasteen and Midway Broadcasting CEO Melody Spann Cooper endorse the updated measure in their written testimony. The revised AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, like earlier version HR-3413/S-1669 (see 2305260034), would mandate that U.S. automakers keep AM radio technology in future domestic-made vehicles. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., signaled a change in position on the AM radio requirement by leading the revised draft released earlier this month (see 2404160067). Rodgers and other panel Republicans were previously skeptical about enacting a mandate (see 2306060088). The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn.
The Senate Commerce Committee is postponing markups of an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act and other bills that were set for consideration during a Wednesday executive session, the panel announced Tuesday night. Senate Commerce still planned to vote Wednesday on a slate of nominations and will consider the postponed bills at an unspecified later date. A panel spokesperson said the postponement was due to time constraints, including ones related to floor consideration of the FAA Reauthorization Act.
The Senate Commerce Committee confirmed Thursday the panel plans to mark up the draft Spectrum and National Security Act and five other tech and telecom-focused bills during a Wednesday executive session, as expected (see 2404240074). The 108-page draft measure from committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, also as expected (see 2403210063). The proposal also provides a new vehicle for allocating stopgap funding for the commission’s ailing affordable connectivity program amid a delay in advancing a separate House-side bid to force a floor vote on providing that money, lobbyists told us.
Republican members of the House and Senate Commerce committees echoed arguments from opponents of the FCC’s draft net neutrality order in a letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel ahead of the commission’s expected adoption of the new rules (see 2404190038). The panels’ Republicans are eying a range of potential actions countering the net neutrality bid (see 2404180058). Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and 11 other Republicans urged Rosenworcel last Thursday to “leverage all resources at its disposal for a successful 5G Fund that maximizes the reach and effectiveness of the program.”
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a May 1 vote on the to-be-filed Spectrum and National Security Act from panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., lobbyists told us. A general notice on the Senate Commerce markup session was online Wednesday night but the committee hadn’t formally announced its agenda. It wasn’t certain Wednesday night whether the Spectrum and National Security Act would actually be part of the meeting. The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. There are five other telecom and tech-focused bills on the docket: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275), Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S-1291), Create AI Act (S-2714) and Future of AI Innovation Act (S-4178).