The Senate Commerce Committee “has received” required paperwork from the White House on new FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. The panel has been trying to schedule a June hearing on the trio but couldn’t until the Biden administration submitted information (see 2306070073). “We’re going through all” the submitted paperwork now and “will schedule a hearing soon,” she told us: “We’d like to get” pending FAA reauthorization legislation “off the board first.”
Senate Commerce Committee leaders are continuing to push for a June confirmation hearing on FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2306010075) but haven't settled on a date, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Ex-nominee Gigi Sohn, meanwhile, directed her ire during a Tuesday Media and Democracy Project event at all levels of news media for not effectively covering her year-plus stalled confirmation process, saying she hopes Gomez and other future FCC candidates don't get the same treatment. Sohn asked President Joe Biden to withdraw her from consideration in March amid continued resistance from a handful of Democrats and uniform GOP opposition (see 2303070082).
The House Commerce Committee’s appetite for advancing the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) proposal to mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future vehicles remains in doubt after multiple Communications Subcommittee members from both parties voiced skepticism during a Tuesday hearing, despite near-unanimous concern about potential public safety implications. House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., told us she’s among those questioning the need for legislation in the short term to prevent AM radio’s removal from future vehicles. Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said in an interview he remains undecided on HR-3413/S-1669 (see 2305260034) after the hearing.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation is “committed to ensuring drivers have access to free, public alerts and safety warnings through” FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) system, but access to emergency alerts “is not limited to one mode of communication” like AM radio, says Vice President-Safety Police Scott Schmidt in written testimony for a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Schmidt’s testimony doesn’t mention the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) proposal to mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future vehicles, but witnesses representing broadcasters and public safety officials strongly endorse the measure in their written responses. House Communications Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, is evaluating whether to back HR-3413/S-1669 (see 2305260034).
The FCC continues “to welcome opportunities to improve” the affordable connectivity program (ACP) “and meet our shared goal of connecting 100% of us,” a spokesperson emailed us in response to commission acting Inspector General Sharon Diskin’s letter earlier this week to GOP leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees that she “shares” some of their concerns with the program’s administration. Diskin criticized the FCC for not applying “lessons learned from prior program experience” when it wrote ACP’s rules (see 2305310080). The FCC set up ACP “in record time because Congress required it” via the 2021 Infrastructure investment and Jobs Act “and because we recognize affordable broadband is essential for modern life,” the spokesperson said: “We remain committed to protecting the success and integrity" of ACP "so it operates as Congress envisioned. As such, we’ve independently launched our own program audits, including asking providers to share additional information about their alternative verification programs.” Any “reviews by the inspector general” like Office of Inspector General’s ACP audit “are met with swift response by the agency so we can maintain the ACP’s program integrity,” the spokesperson said.
The Senate Commerce Committee’s plan for moving on President Joe Biden’s trio of FCC nominees remains fluid amid uncertainty about whether there will be bipartisan appetite to move Anna Gomez, the White House’s new nominee for the vacant fifth commission seat, together with sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2305220065). Gomez told members of the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference last week she plans to stay in her existing State Department appointment to lead the group (see 2301260072) until the Senate confirms her as a commissioner.
The FCC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) shares “many of the same concerns” top Republican leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees voiced in early May about the commission's management of broadband money it received for the affordable connectivity program (ACP) during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2305080067), acting IG Sharon Diskin told the GOP leaders Tuesday in a letter we obtained. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sought information from the FCC OIG about ACP’s administration, citing ongoing debate about extending its life.
The House Commerce Committee’s Wednesday advancement of the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and panel leaders’ push to enact (see 2305170037) a bill to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through June 30 (HR-3345) are aimed squarely at putting pressure on Senate negotiators to reach a deal, said lawmakers, congressional aides and others in interviews. The panel advanced an amended version of HR-3565 50-0 and unanimously approved five bipartisan broadband permitting measures but divided sharply along party lines on the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-3557).
Three House Communications Subcommittee priorities drew equal attention during a Tuesday hearing with NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: leaders’ push for a wide-ranging spectrum legislative package, oversight of federal broadband spending, and renewed Hill interest in reauthorizing the agency’s mandate with an eye to addressing future policy issues. The hearing was partly a curtain-raiser for the Commerce Committee’s planned Wednesday markup of the newly filed Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and six broadband measures House Communications approved last week (see 2305170037).
President Joe Biden’s decision to simultaneously announce his intended pick Monday of former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to the long-vacant fifth FCC seat and his renomination of sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, as expected (see 2305180067 and 2305220020), is likely to speed Senate confirmation for all three candidates, said congressional officials and communications policy observers in interviews. There’s not a hard timeline for Senate consideration of the trio, but a Commerce Committee confirmation hearing is likely sometime in June and some stakeholders said they will push the chamber to approve all three before the start of the August recess.