The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee plans a Thursday markup of its FY 2023 funding bill, which will include money for the FCC and FTC. The subcommittee hadn’t released its proposal Monday afternoon. The markup session will begin at 11 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn. President Joe Biden proposed in March giving the FCC $390 million, up 2.3% from what Congress appropriated in FY 2022. Biden wants to give the FTC $490 million in FY23, up 30% from what the agency got for FY22 (see 2203280069).

Congress needs to pass antitrust legislation this month (see 2206070059), said Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and bill co-sponsors during a news conference Wednesday. July 4 is a good cut-off date for when the Senate should vote, she said. “I hope we get the opportunity this month, not next month, not after the August recess,” said House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo. “We all know what happens after the August recess. This bill has to pass in June.” Big Tech doesn’t want competition online, said House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I. He noted the enormous resources Big Tech is spending to kill the legislation and protect its monopoly profits. Industry has spent tens of millions on advertising campaigns that spread falsehoods about the bills, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on bipartisan draft privacy legislation June 14, the House Commerce Committee announced Tuesday (see 2206030058). The hybrid hearing on the American Data Privacy and Protection Act is set for 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. “We look forward to hearing from consumer privacy leaders as we work to finalize this important legislation that holds Big Tech accountable, puts consumers back in control of their data, and protects their privacy,” Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said in a joint statement with House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

Expect the Senate to vote soon on legislation that would end Big Tech self-preferencing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told MSNBC Tuesday. She noted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “promised a vote” on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992/HR-3816) (see 2204270025) in the “early summer.” The vote “should be coming up quite soon,” she said. Several Democrats are delaying passage of the bill and the Open App Markets Act (S-2710) (see 2204150040), said Fight for the Future in a new campaign. The organization accused five Democrats of being “shills” for Big Tech: Brian Schatz of Hawaii; Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla of California; Margaret Hassan of New Hampshire; and Michael Bennet of Colorado. Their offices didn’t comment.

House Commerce Committee member Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., Tuesday emphasized the importance of addressing rumors about potential RF health effects of 5G and highlighting the technology’s benefits. “We’re going to do a better job of talking about why this next generation is so much better than that it’s not a threat to them,” Dingell during a Punchbowl News event. “We need to tell the benefits of why [5G] matters,” including “how it’s going to help the community more, how it’s going to give their children more access to broadband, how it’s going to help them in their businesses.” It’s “going to be 100 times faster than what they have right now,” Dingell said. She noted major car manufacturers are using 5G tech in their factories: “The use of this new technology increases the efficiency of production and reduces the emissions at that plant. As technology develops, it helps you do your business more efficiently and smartly,” including abating carbon dioxide emissions.

The American Data Privacy and Protection Act discussion draft floated by House Commerce Committee leaders and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., drew mixed reaction from Friday into Monday from stakeholders. The proposal directs the FTC to set national rules on what types of data tech companies can collect from users and how they can disseminate it. It would also grant a limited private right of action and preempt many state-level privacy statutes (see 2206030058). “This draft shows that there is a bipartisan path forward on long-overdue legislation to protect consumers’ privacy,” said Center for Democracy and Technology President Alexandra Reeve Givens. “While it’s not perfect, the draft is a hopeful first step.” The group recognizes “that there will be negotiations that require difficult trade-offs, but now is the time for that work to happen,” she said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association gave a tepid response that didn’t point to specific elements of the Wicker-House Commerce draft. “Internet traffic crosses state and international boundaries and internet users need basic protections to travel with them,” said CCIA President Matt Schruers. “Strong baseline privacy protections are key to consumer trust and we appreciate members of Congress working toward this goal.” The 21st Century Privacy Coalition “appreciates the discussion draft’s efforts to achieve a comprehensive national privacy effort” and looks “forward to reviewing the bill in detail and providing feedback. However, we are concerned about the bill’s failure to include certain communications services in the comprehensive framework.”

Broadcast advocate Preston Padden, a vocal supporter of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, criticized Comcast Friday for “egregious” lobbying against her confirmation. Sohn’s confirmation process remains stalled as three Senate Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remain undecided on the nominee (see 2205110050). “Comcast is a company with impeccable Democrat credentials,” but that makes its “extremely targeted campaign against” Sohn “harder to accept,” Padden said. He noted the company’s hiring of Larry Puccio, a former top aide to Manchin when he was West Virginia’s governor, and Consilium Consulting’s Kirk Adams, saying they were hired to lobby Manchin and other moderate Senate Democrats against Sohn. “One Democrat leaning company should not be able to block President Biden’s FCC nominee with micro-targeted lobbying hits,” Padden said. Comcast didn’t comment. Free Press, meanwhile, noted Saturday would “mark 500 days during the Biden administration without a full-strength, five-member” FCC.

The White House should “develop and implement a national broadband strategy,” and “federal broadband efforts are fragmented and overlapping," GAO said in a report released Tuesday. Fifteen federal agencies administer more than 100 federal connectivity programs, but “U.S. broadband efforts are not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures,” GAO said in its report to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and four other panel Republicans. The White House “has not decided if a national strategy is needed, but it is well positioned to develop and implement one. A strategy to help better align programs could also include legislative proposals for Congress. Without such a strategy, federal broadband efforts will not be fully coordinated, and thereby continue to risk overlap and duplication of effort.” The office noted NTIA led an interagency group in 2018 to review differing broadband program definitions, but the agency “did not identify which statutory provisions limit alignment nor recommend any changes." GAO urged NTIA's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to write a report to Congress “that identifies the key statutory provisions that limit the beneficial alignment of broadband programs and offers legislative proposals to address the limitations.” NTIA should also direct the office to “regularly seek and incorporate feedback when updating” its BroadbandUSA federal funding guide, GAO said. NTIA said it “agrees with” both agency-focused recommendations, in comments released with the GAO report, noting it's "imperative" federal entities are well-coordinated on broadband spending priorities. NTIA “is prepared to develop” the proposed report and planned to release details of its “planned actions” once the “final GAO report is issued." The agency hadn’t released those plans Wednesday afternoon.

Apple and Google should ban apps from “using data mining practices that could facilitate the targeting of individuals seeking abortion services,” Democrats wrote the companies Friday. Democrats have been making similar calls since the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade (see 2205240061). Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., signed Friday’s letter with Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Should the court overturn the decision, “anti-abortion prosecutors and even vigilantes may be able to exploit online mining of data from apps on the Google Play Store [and App Store] to stop individuals from accessing abortion services or to target them retroactively,” the lawmakers wrote. Policies “must require available apps to prohibit and protect against data practices that threaten individuals seeking abortion services.”

The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing an NTIA oversight hearing with Administrator Alan Davidson the first full week of June, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in an interview. The Communications Subcommittee may handle the hearing instead of the full panel, Cantwell said. The hearing is expected to happen June 8 or 9, lobbyists said. Davidson previously testified at a February House Communications Subcommittee NTIA oversight hearing (see 2202160064).