The Wireless Infrastructure Association urged House and Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday to not include language in a potential alternative version of the scuttled Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (see 2112170036) that would institute a 15% book alternative minimum tax on spectrum licenses. “Under the current tax code, companies that acquire spectrum licenses” via FCC “auctions are permitted to amortize these auction costs over a 15-year period, freeing up additional capital for investment in next-generation wireless infrastructure,” WIA President Jonathan Adelstein said in letters to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts. “The book alternative minimum tax provision in last year’s Build Back Better bill would have changed this tax treatment -- spectrum licenses would be considered indefinite-lived assets under tax law, and the purchase of these licenses would receive no deduction for book income purposes.” At “a time when Congress is prioritizing the expansion of broadband infrastructure across the country, changing the current tax treatment would represent a retreat in the march towards reaching the nation’s connectivity goals,” Adelstein said.

Former House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Tuesday he won't seek reelection this year. He’s the 11th Commerce member to announce plans to leave the House either for retirement or to seek another office. Others include Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. (see 2111120002). Upton has been active in Commerce Republicans’ work on legislation to revamp Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2107280069) and other bills aimed at reining in major tech companies. He also was among the Republicans urging House Commerce to take up a package of bills aimed at streamlining broadband deployments (see 2006250068). Upton’s “announcement is sad to many, for both Democrats and Republicans alike,” said Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. NAB and the Wireless Infrastructure Association also praised Upton’s service.

The House was expected to vote Monday night on passing the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218) and Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501). HR-1218 and Senate-passed companion S-198 would require the FCC to include data on certain maternal health outcomes in its broadband health mapping tool (see 2203030037). The House Commerce Committee advanced HR-1218 in November (see 2111170052). HR-2501 would mandate changes to the FCC’s 2003 memorandum of understanding with NTIA.

A bipartisan House bill would require the administration to study how digital currencies could help Russia evade U.S. sanctions. The legislation, introduced Thursday by Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top members of the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, would also create a new State Department officer to oversee sanctions evasion efforts involving digital currency. Although administration officials have cast doubt on Russia’s ability to use cryptocurrencies to prop up its economy, digital assets are still “ripe for abuse” as Russia looks to evade the U.S.’s “unprecedented” sanctions, Meeks said. McCaul said the bill will ensure the U.S. is “taking the necessary steps to prevent these emerging technologies,” such as blockchain, “from undermining sanctions, including those currently aimed at bankrupting [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war machine.” The bill would require the State and Treasury departments to submit a report to Congress that assesses how digital currencies could “impact the effectiveness and enforcement of” U.S. sanctions against Russia. It would also authorize the State Department to appoint a director of digital currency to help develop “sanctions enforcement mechanisms resilient to malevolent actors’ use of digital currencies.”

DOJ supports legislation that would ban online platforms’ “discriminatory conduct,” acting Assistant Attorney General Peter Hyun wrote this week to House Judiciary Committee members. The rise of dominant platforms is a threat to open markets and competition, he wrote. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act S. 2992/HR-3816 (see 2202090066) “would emphasize causes of action prohibiting the largest digital platforms from discriminating in favor of their own products or services, or among third parties,” he said: The legislation would supplement existing antitrust laws “in preventing the largest digital companies from abusing and exploiting their dominant positions.” Software & Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Global Public Policy Paul Lekas disagreed, saying the bills are a “solution in search of a problem.” It isn’t “at all clear that there is a need, let alone a pressing one, for Congress to augment or clarify existing antitrust law or for the government to try to influence how digital markets work in the manner these bills propose,” said Lekas in a statement.

The House Homeland Security Committee plans a hearing Wednesday on Russian cyberthreats. The hearing is set for 2 p.m. in 310 Cannon. Witnesses: CrowdStrike Senior Vice President-Intelligence Adam Meyers, Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center CEO Steve Silberstein, American Water Works Association Federal Relations Manager Kevin Morley and Tenable CEO Amit Yoran.

Congress should maintain the urgency in passing its China package, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., tweeted Tuesday, the day after the Senate sent the bill back to the House, one step closer to formal conference (see 2203280063). The Senate voted 68-28 to pass HR-4521, the America Competes Act, as amended. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted no. The House is expected to reject the substituted legislation and request a conference to reconcile differences, said the office for Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The Commerce Department should add ZTE to its Entity List now that its five-year probation period and U.S. criminal case has ended, said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in a Monday letter to Commerce and the Justice Department. Rubio also expressed “disappointment and concern” that a U.S. court ruled this month against further penalties against the Chinese telecommunications company despite “credible evidence” that ZTE violated its probation. Rubio said the judge in the case “appeared unconvinced of any serious commitment to reform” by ZTE officials. “Given that the decision effectively marks the end of ZTE’s five-year probationary period, the net result is that a firm explicitly identified by the Federal Communications Commission as a national-security threat is today rewarded with relaxed oversight, despite its acknowledged noncompliance,” Rubio said in the letter. He said Commerce and DOJ should “take all appropriate measures against ZTE to ensure it cannot pose a threat to Americans,” including adding the company to Commerce’s export control blacklist. Spokespeople for Commerce and DOJ didn’t respond to requests for comment.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and the three other commissioners will testify at the House Communications Subcommittee’s planned March 31 FCC oversight hearing, the Commerce Committee said Thursday. The panel had earlier left the witness list unspecified to allow flexibility in case the Senate confirmed FCC nominee Gigi Sohn before the hearing (see 2203080076). Senate Democratic leaders eyed initial votes this week on Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya (see 2203220058), but decided against it because it couldn’t ensure all 50 Democratic senators would be available on the floor, lobbyists told us. Three Democrats remained absent during Thursday votes: Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. House Communications’ partly virtual hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Bipartisan legislation introduced Tuesday would direct the National Science Foundation to research the role of social media in “contributing to human trafficking crimes.” Introduced by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-N.M., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the Human Trafficking Online Research Act would focus research on social media implications and “preventative measures” platforms are using to “combat crime and spread public awareness.”