The Senate reconfirmed Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and approved Republican commission nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak Thursday night on voice votes, setting the body up to soon return to a 3-2 Democratic majority. The commission hasn't had any Republican members since former Commissioner Christine Wilson departed in March 2023. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., lifted his hold on Ferguson earlier Thursday after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted for Hawley’s Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S-3853). Ferguson, Virginia's solicitor general, is a former McConnell aide. The chamber also unanimously confirmed FCC inspector general nominee Fara Damelin, setting up the watchdog office to have its first permanent leader since Congress made it independent of the agency in 2018.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., voiced varying levels of optimism during a Tuesday Incompas conference (see 2403050052) about the prospects that lawmakers will be able to reach a deal on stopgap funding that will keep the FCC’s affordable connectivity program running past this spring. The FCC said in a Monday update on its wind-down of the program that it will be able to provide only “partial” reimbursements for ACP in May (see 2403040077). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., highlighted their ongoing interest in enacting legislation to lift or ease permitting processes in a bid to streamline broadband deployments.
The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, a “minibus” funding bill that includes reductions for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies but a slight increase for the DOJ Antitrust Division. President Joe Biden signed a continuing resolution (HR-7463) March 1 that extended federal appropriations for those agencies through Friday, March 8 (see 2403010072). The chamber is also set to vote this week on the 988 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act (HR-498) and NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) under suspension of the rules (see 2403010073).
An all-but-certain bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune (S.D.) to take over as the chamber’s top Republican from current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is throwing uncertainty into lobbyists’ expectations for who will hold the party's subpanel leadership role in the next Congress. In the House, some Republican contenders to replace term-limited Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) have emerged, but the race to be the party’s Commerce Committee leader and other factors continue to cloud the subpanel sweepstakes (see 2402290054).
The nascent Republican leadership race to succeed retiring House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) is scrambling expectations as to who will hold the GOP's top seat on the House Communications Subcommittee in the next Congress, lobbyists and observers told us. Environment Subcommittee Chairman Buddy Carter, R-Ga., confirmed to us Thursday he’s interested in House Communications’ lead GOP seat, but other lawmakers are too. There’s even more uncertainty about what Republican will lead the delegation on the Senate Communications Subcommittee in the next Congress as ranking member John Thune (S.D.) is a likely contender to succeed Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as the party's chamber leader.
Congressional Republican leaders are determined to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to undo the FCC’s digital discrimination order (H.J.Res. 107) despite widespread acknowledgment the measure faces long odds of making it through the majority-Democratic Senate and an all-but-certain veto from President Joe Biden. GOP leaders’ intent in pursuing H.J.Res. 107 appears to be to bolster legal challenges of the digital discrimination order, officials and lobbyists told us. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia and more than 60 other Republicans filed the measure in late January (see 2401310003).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Wednesday he and other supporters of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program are seeking stopgap funding for an FY 2024 omnibus appropriations package in a bid to keep the endangered initiative running. Meanwhile, ex-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and eight other former commission heads said congressional leaders should “act swiftly” and appropriate up to $15 billion for next-generation 911 tech upgrades. President Joe Biden last year sought $6 billion in stopgap ACP money and $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as part of a supplemental appropriations request but didn’t mention NG-911 (see 2310250075).
House Communications Subcommittee members were universally positive about the Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks Act (HR-1513) and four other communications network security bills during a Thursday hearing. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and other lawmakers used the hearing to continue the drumbeat for Congress to allocate an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, as expected (see 2402140055). Several Democrats touted the stopgap funding push for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (see 2402130074) as another priority for securing U.S. networks.
Witnesses set to testify during a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday (see 2402090072) want lawmakers to consider longer-term initiatives for curbing China’s risk to U.S. communications networks. The push for Congress to allocate an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2401240001) will likely receive attention during the hearing, as it has in other recent panels, lobbyists said. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929) GOP co-sponsor Rep. Marc Molinaro of New York acknowledged Tuesday that Republican opponents of stopgap funding for ACP are an impediment, but one the bill’s backers can overcome. HR-6929 and Senate companion S-3565 would allocate $7 billion for ACP, keeping it alive through FY 2024 (see 2401100056). The FCC froze ACP enrollments last week in keeping with procedures for winding down the program absent more federal funding.