President Joe Biden is expected to sign the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package (HR-2471) that includes funding increases for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other tech-related federal agencies (see 2203090068), a White House spokesperson said Friday. The Senate voted 68-31 Thursday to pass HR-2471 and cleared a continuing resolution (House Joint Resolution 75) to extend federal funding through Tuesday on a voice vote in case Biden doesn't sign the omnibus package before an existing CR expired Friday night.

A bipartisan group of senators filed a bill Thursday meant, they said, to “prevent China from stealing intellectual property from American companies through their corrupt court system.” Introduced by Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; and Rick Scott, R-Fla., the Defending American Courts Act targets China’s use of anti-suit injunctions, which “limit the ability of American companies to file or maintain claims related to patent infringement in U.S. courts or the International Trade Commission.” The bill bans “bad actors” from seeking review of the relevant patent at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and “if they are found to have infringed the patent, the bill requires certain presumptions that make enhanced damages and attorney fees more likely.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he hopes the chamber will pass the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package that includes funding increases for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other tech-related federal agencies (see 2203090068). The House voted 361-69 Wednesday to pass part the measure, filed as an amendment to shell bill HR-2471, that included funding for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies, the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The chamber voted 260-171 to pass other parts of the HR-2471 amendment, including funding for the FCC and FTC. The omnibus would give the FCC $381.95 million and the FTC $376.5 million. NTIA would get $50 million, the Patent Office $4.06 billion, the National Institute of Standards and Technology $1.23 billion, and the Bureau of Industry and Security $141 million. BIS would also get a separate $22 million allocation to “respond to” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. CISA would get $2.59 billion and DOJ Antitrust $192.78 million. CPB would get $525 million annually beginning in FY 2024. The omnibus hadn’t reached the Senate Thursday afternoon because House clerks were still processing the measure. “Once this bill arrives at the Senate, Republicans must work with Democrats to pass the bill as soon as possible, hopefully tonight,” Schumer said in a floor speech: “There’s every reason in the world to believe we can arrive at a path forward quickly.” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Thursday there were “better than even” odds the chamber would pass the measure that night but cautioned a speedy process depends on Democrats allowing votes on four GOP amendments. If talks continue into Friday, Senate leaders may choose to move on a House-passed continuing resolution (House Joint Resolution 75) to extend federal funding through Tuesday. An existing CR to fund the government expires Friday night. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, touted the inclusion of language from his Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512) in the omnibus that would extend for 151 days a waiver of geographic restrictions on access to telehealth services and several other temporary rules changes allowing expanded use of the technology made during the COVID-19 pandemic. The full HR-2903/S-1512 would permanently end those restrictions (see 2110080002). “While this extension is helpful, these changes should be made permanent” by separately passing HR-2903/S-1512, Schatz said.

DOJ should investigate whether Amazon obstructed Congress or violated the law during the House Judiciary Committee’s tech competition investigation, a bipartisan group of committee members wrote the department Wednesday. Amazon engaged in a pattern of misleading behavior that “appeared designed to influence, obstruct, or impede the committee’s 16-month investigation,” they wrote. Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., signed the letter with House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I.; ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo.; and Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Credible reporting shows Amazon uses third-party seller data in competition with those sellers, despite contrary testimony from company executives, they said. The company “attempted to clean up the inaccurate testimony through ever-shifting explanations of its internal policies and denials of the investigative reports,” the committee said. An Amazon spokesperson emailed: “There's no factual basis for this, as demonstrated in the huge volume of information we've provided over several years of good faith cooperation with this investigation.” DOJ didn’t comment.

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., urged NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Tuesday to use the rules for $48 billion in broadband money from Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act under the agency’s control to “prioritize and protect competition, high quality jobs, affordability, and consumer protection standards,” including net neutrality. Republicans raised concerns during Davidson's Senate confirmation process about whether he would use NTIA's setup of IIJA program rules to set net neutrality requirements for recipients (see 2112140074). NTIA should “implement measures that promote net neutrality as it fulfills its mandates under IIJA,” Blumenthal and Markey wrote Davidson. Those measures should be “consistent with” the Department of Agriculture’s decision to factor a company’s commitment to net neutrality into decisions on whether to award an applicant ReConnect money (see 2111080063). “These rules benefit consumers, promote free speech, and enrich the economy by making the internet a fair playing field where entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes can thrive,” the senators said. NTIA should “encourage state action plans that consult labor organizations, promote Buy American policies, and support expanding and securing the workforce through data collection and prioritizing strong training programs.” The agency should also include wholesale and nondiscriminatory access requirements, which would “avoid new, taxpayer-funded monopolies” and “give rise to companies that compete for traditionally unserved and underserved communities, such as immigrant communities and individuals on the Lifeline program,” the Democrats said.

The House Communications Subcommittee plans a March 31 FCC oversight hearing, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The panel’s hearing notice mentions FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel as a planned witness but doesn’t specify which other commissioners will appear because committee leaders want to allow flexibility in case the Senate confirms commission nominee Gigi Sohn before then, lobbyists told us. The Senate Commerce Committee tied 14-14 on Sohn last week, which means the full chamber will have to vote to discharge the panel from further consideration of her nomination before senators can cast votes to invoke cloture and final confirmation (see 2203030070). “The FCC plays a key role in ensuring that Congress’ historic broadband investments included in” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “reach the people and communities that will most benefit from all the opportunities that come with quality internet access,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a statement. “We look forward to hearing from” Rosenworcel and other commissioners “about the FCC’s ongoing work to connect all Americans regardless of income or zip code, promoting secure and resilient networks, and paving the way for our wireless future.” Doyle previously said he wanted to wait until there was a full five-member FCC before bringing in the commissioners (see 2106300077). The committee’s last FCC oversight hearing was in September 2020 (see 2009170068).

The House was set to vote as soon as Monday night on the Senate-passed National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium Act (S-658). The measure would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to work with the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium to prepare for and respond to cybersecurity risks, including helping state and local governments develop cyber information sharing programs.

ACA Connects, the Competitive Carriers Association and six other communications groups urged the House and Senate Appropriations committees Thursday to give the FCC additional funding for its program to reimburse U.S. carriers for removing Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. Congress allocated $1.9 billion to the program via the FY 2021 Appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus law (see 2012210055), but carriers’ reimbursement requests totaled almost $5.6 billion by early February, the groups wrote House and Senate Appropriations leaders. “Barring further resources, the FCC will be forced to implement prorating available funding using the prioritization process directed by Congress,” the groups said. “Due to the significant amount of shortfall from current appropriations, prorating funding without additional resources threatens to significantly limit” the FCC program’s ability “to complete its mission. Service providers, which have already expended or committed significant resources under the assurance that reimbursements would be available, could be left unable to complete the removal and replacement of covered equipment and services, or be forced to shutter their business entirely, threatening the availability and security of advanced communications across the country, particularly in rural America.” Delays “in providing additional resources could have a chilling effect on accomplishing the goals directed by Congress to secure our nation’s communications networks,” the groups said.

The Senate passed the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (S-198) Wednesday by unanimous consent. The measure and House companion HR-1218 would require the FCC to include data on certain maternal health outcomes in its broadband health mapping tool (see 2104280083). The House Commerce Committee advanced HR-1218 in November (see 2111170052). S-198 lead sponsors Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., hailed the measure’s passage. “By mapping out areas with a need for both increased maternal care and access to broadband, we can better target where telemedicine improvements will be most effective to improve outcomes for expecting mothers and save lives,” Rosen said.

The Senate passed a legislative package by unanimous consent Monday that includes mandatory cyber reporting and cyber ransomware payment requirements (see 2202080082). The Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act (S-3600) combines the Cyber Incident Reporting Act, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and the Federal Secure Cloud Improvement and Jobs Act. Critical infrastructure entities would have to report to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within “72 hours if they are experiencing a substantial cyberattack, and within 24 hours if they make a ransomware payment.” Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.; ranking member Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., who have led efforts in the Senate, said they look forward to helping move legislation in the House.