Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Greg Pence, R-Ind., led refiling Monday of the Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act in a bid to expand the federal government’s effort to encourage U.S. chip manufacturing. The measure, which the Senate Commerce Committee first advanced in 2021 (see 2112090058), would direct the Commerce Department’s SelectUSA program to work with state-level economic development organizations to develop strategies to attract investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and supply chains. “Semiconductor shortages made it abundantly clear that we cannot continue to depend on Communist China for critical materials for manufacturing and producing American products,” Blackburn said in a statement. “We need to build on the Chips and Science Act to continue advancing efforts that will lower the cost of goods and strengthen our economic competitiveness, supply chains and national security,” Peters said. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is a lead co-sponsor. “The Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act strengthens semiconductor supply chains by requiring federal and state government programs to develop strategies to attract investment in semiconductor manufacturing,” Eshoo said. The U.S. “learned the hard way that we simply cannot rely on foreign nations to secure semiconductor chips -- and that doing so jeopardizes America’s economic and national security," Pence said.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday that, before the March 9 expiration date of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, they’re “committed to developing a spectrum proposal that achieves the greatest value possible for American taxpayers while protecting our national security interests.” Congress agreed in December to extend the FCC’s authority through March 9 after a spectrum legislative deal lawmakers hoped to include in the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus measure fell through at the last minute (see 2212300046). “Developing a spectrum proposal is complex, which is why lawmakers shouldn’t rush into a bad deal just to secure any deal,” Cruz and Thune said: “A successful outcome on spectrum will maximize use of this finite resource, which is critical to economic growth and international leadership.”

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel offered limited insight Thursday into the current state of talks to resurrect a spectrum legislative package after a deal lawmakers hoped in December to include in the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus measure fell through at the last minute (see 2212280044). Congress instead extended the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through March 9 as a stopgap (see 2212300046). There has been “lots of talk, lots of back and forth in anticipation of that March 9 deadline,” Rosenworcel told reporters after the commissioners’ open meeting Thursday. The FCC’s auction authority is something “we want to continue and there are lots of people hard at work on that.” The FCC’s auctions “have been a good deal” for the U.S. because “they have helped support our economic and national security,” she said: The sales “put out into the economy airwaves that have helped create so much in wireless innovation” both within the U.S. and “worldwide.”

Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and John Thune, R-S.D., announced reintroduction Thursday of a bill to hold tech companies liable for hosting content that violates their own policies or is illegal. The Internet Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (Internet Pact) Act would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 and require “large online platforms” to “remove court-determined illegal content and activity within four days.” The bill would exempt “enforcement of federal civil laws from Section 230” so online platforms can’t “use it as a defense” when federal regulators like DOJ or the FTC “pursue civil actions online.” The bill would require platforms to share publicly available content moderation practices. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subpoenaed the CEOs of Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft Wednesday, seeking documents on alleged collusion between Big Tech and federal government officials to censor online speech. The committee has tried to engage the companies since December on document requests, but the companies haven’t “adequately complied,” Jordan said. He sent letters to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. He told them Twitter set a “benchmark” for transparency on interactions between industry and government over suppression of speech. Documents provided by Twitter show how the actions between the two sides violated the First Amendment, said Jordan. The subpoenas require the companies to produce requested documents by March 23. Microsoft is "producing documents," is "engaged with the Committee, and committed to working in good faith," the company said. Meta said in a statement: “We have already begun producing documents in response to the committee’s requests and will continue to do so moving forward." The other companies didn’t comment.

Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., refiled the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275) Wednesday to change FCC vetting rules for participants in USF high-cost programs. S-275, first filed last year (see 2205030031), would require the FCC to launch a rulemaking to "establish a vetting process” for USF high-cost applicant ISPs, including requiring them to provide “sufficient detail and documentation for the Commission to ascertain that the applicant possesses the technical capability, and has a reasonable plan, to deploy the proposed network.” The FCC would be required to evaluate new applications based on “reasonable and well-established technical standards,” including those the commission adopted for its Form 477 Data Program “for purposes of entities that must report broadband availability coverage.” The legislation “expands on my broadband efforts, and is a product of many discussions I’ve had with small rural service providers and local leaders in my state,” Capito said. “These discussions made it abundantly clear the FCC needs congressional direction to ensure taxpayer money is being used properly to fund broadband deployment in rural areas.” In 2023 “we should be able to bring high-speed internet to every community in our country, regardless of their zip code,” Klobuchar said: “This bipartisan legislation will help Americans connect to work, school, health care and business opportunities by ensuring the companies that apply for federal funding to build out broadband infrastructure can get the job done.” Capito’s office cited support from NTCA and USTelecom.

The House Commerce Committee voice voted Thursday to adopt its oversight plan for this Congress. Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to expand the scope of the committee’s oversight plan on communications policy, including on broadband affordability and public safety communications. Panel Republicans have been eyeing more rigorous oversight of the FCC and broadband now that they're in the majority (see 2210310073). The plan calls for FCC oversight that will include “efforts to reverse the reclassification” of broadband “as a telecommunications service subject to” Communications Act Title II “and efforts to bring transparency and accountability to the Commission’s processes.” House Commerce “will continue to conduct oversight of the FCC’s decisions and their impact on innovation and the U.S. economy,” including “the impact generally of FCC actions on voice, video, audio, and data services, public safety, broadband mapping, and security of our networks,” the plan said. The committee “will also focus its oversight efforts on the Commission’s administration of” the Affordable Connectivity Program and Emergency Connectivity Fund “and investigate … cases of waste, fraud, and abuse.” NTIA oversight will focus on the agency’s “administration of broadband grant programs created” in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “and efforts to bring transparency and accountability to NTIA’s processes,” the plan said. House Commerce “will also look into NTIA’s authorities and determine whether NTIA needs additional authorities to keep pace with the advancement of modern technology and the advancement of the communications marketplace.” FTC oversight will include examining “the impact of its decisions and actions on the general public and the business community, with a particular focus on how the FTC conducts its business while not creating undue burdens for legitimate businesses, its determination of priorities, and the need, if any, for refinement of its authorities,” the plan said. House Commerce “will explore the FTC’s role relative to emerging technologies and sectors of the economy. Additionally, the Committee will examine how the agency is utilizing specific bureaus, or lack thereof, including the Bureau of Economics, while pursuing enforcement and regulatory action." There's "this overwhelming sense that government is making lives harder for people," said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. "Our oversight work will inform how we hold the Biden administration accountable." The committee "will do the hard work of reclaiming Congress’s Article I authority to reauthorize expired programs that are running on autopilot," she said. Although "there are some areas that are ripe for bipartisan collaboration, I’m disappointed to say that this Republican” oversight plan “outlines clear intentions to undermine the tremendous progress we made last Congress,” said House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

A trio of top Democrats on the House and Senate Commerce committees refiled the Protecting Community Television Act Thursday in a bid to ensure continued resources for public, educational and governmental programming (see 2001210064). The measure, first filed in 2020, would undo the FCC’s 2019 cable TV local franchise authority order (see 1908010011). PCTA's sponsors -- Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Rep. Anna Eshoo of California -- believe the 2019 order would treat cable operators' in-kind contributions required by LFAs as franchise fees and subject to a cap. "At a time when cable news and media have become more consolidated than ever before, we must work to uphold local access to" PEG channels "for every household in our country," Markey said: Community TV is "a service which millions of Americans rely on to keep up with the news that matters most to them, stay plugged into enriching, educational programming, and hold their local governments to account." The FCC's adoption of the LFA order under then-Chairman Ajit Pai has "hurt public, educational, and governmental television, and this harms communities," Eshoo said: PCTA will "reverse these harmful agency actions and protect community television by ensuring local voices have the platform they deserve.” The lawmakers noted backing from the Alliance for Community Media, MassAccess, National Association of Counties, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors and National League of Cities.

Fight for the Future and 39 other groups urged the Senate Thursday to confirm FCC nominee Gigi Sohn “before the end of March,” saying “there are several things that the FCC could do to protect the safety and rights of people seeking, providing, and facilitating abortion care. But they can’t do any of them until the commission is fully staffed” with a 3-2 Democratic majority. Sohn, whom President Joe Biden renominated in January, is to testify at a Tuesday Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing (see 2302080043). It will be her third appearance before the panel, after the Senate stalled on confirming her in 2021 and 2022. “The Biden administration’s priorities, including restoring net neutrality and enacting privacy rules, have stalled for over two years,” the pro-Sohn groups said. “In that time, telecom giants and Big Tech have only scaled up their collection and retention of an astonishingly unnecessary amount of customer data, including the locations and search histories of individual people.” The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson last year, which overturned the existing Roe v. Wade finding of a constitutional right to abortion, means the U.S.’ “lack of constitutional privacy protections now enables the mass-scale tracking and criminalization of those seeking abortion healthcare,” the groups said: “Location data from cell phones can be used as evidence to prosecute those who travel out of state to get an abortion.” The FCC’s current 2-2 split “enables a data free-for-all on our mobile devices,” the groups said. “At a time when core privacy rights are being challenged and in some cases decimated, a kneecapped FCC is the last problem we should have.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and House Ways and Means Tax Subcommittee Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., led refiling Thursday of the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act in a bid to ensure broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act, American Rescue Plan Act and Tribal Broadband Connectivity Fund doesn’t count as taxable income. The measure, first filed last year (see 2209290067), would amend the Internal Revenue Code to say broadband grants enacted via either statute don’t count as “gross income.” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., are lead co-sponsors. There have been “significant strides to ensure that access to high-speed internet is available to more Americans than ever,” Warner said. “But taxing broadband investment awards diminishes our efforts. This legislation ensures that individuals and businesses are able to reap the benefits of every dollar set aside for broadband expansion and deployment so that we can accomplish our goal of bringing reliable broadband to every corner of Virginia.” The measure “ensures federal grant dollars, especially those made available to local governments through pandemic relief funding, will give constituents the best return on their investment,” Kelly said. Warner’s office noted several telecom industry groups back the measure, including the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Incompas, NTCA and USTelecom, the Wireless ISP Association and WTA.