A Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) official said Thursday that Congress and President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency advisory commission should consider consolidating what it said are 133 federal broadband programs into a single initiative. DOGE leads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy met with a range of GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday as they continued eyeing how to trim up to $2 trillion in federal spending. In late November, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, urged Musk and Ramaswamy to recommend that lawmakers “pull the plug” on the $42.5 billion NTIA-led BEAD program (see 2412030050). Continued existence of “133 broadband programs across 15 agencies is clearly excessive and wasteful,” Deborah Collier, CAGW vice president-policy and government affairs, said in a blog post. “It is time for these programs to be scrutinized, so taxpayers are no longer forced to pay for those that are inefficient and ineffective and support the few that will not only work as intended but also deploy broadband to every remaining unserved and underserved business and household across the country that wishes to be connected to the internet.” Ernst urged that DOGE and Congress assess each broadband program “by determining if it is operating as intended; if it duplicates or overlaps with another program or another agency; if the program’s administrators are requiring the money to be spent to achieve goals that are outside of the statute establishing the program; if the program’s goals are still current in today’s market; whether the program’s objectives can be achieved by the private sector; and if it can be consolidated with a better managed program in another agency.”

The Senate unanimously passed the Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports Rural America Act (S-3242) Wednesday night, drawing praise from NTCA. The measure and House companion HR-4360 would exempt small telecom companies from several SEC filing requirements, including raising the number of investors that would trigger some SEC requirements for telecom companies that receive "support, directly through an affiliate, through any Federal universal service support" mechanism. S-3242 lead sponsors Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, hailed the measure’s passage. It “cuts red tape for our small broadband providers and helps them expand reliable, affordable internet to more families and small businesses across Wisconsin,” Baldwin said. “I’m grateful my bipartisan effort to cut regulations, reduce unnecessary requirements, and unleash local telecom companies passed the Senate,” Ernst said. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said S-3242 “will help relieve … smaller, locally owned companies with limited resources” from SEC requirements “intended for larger, publicly traded firms.” The measure will “enable small providers to focus more on their core mission of deploying and operating advanced broadband networks in rural areas,” she said.

The Senate Communications Subcommittee plans a Dec. 11 hearing on telecom network security issues, the Commerce Committee said Wednesday. Communications policy lobbyists told us Senate Commerce leaders want the hearing to amplify the push for a year-end vehicle appropriating $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2411190064) amid some signs that chamber leaders are moving closer to agreeing to attach the money to a legislative package. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan, a major rip-and-replace funding proponent, is among those set to testify. Also on the witness docket: James Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies Technology and Public Policy Program director, and Global Cyber Strategies CEO Justin Sherman. The Senate Communications hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Lobbyists said the panel is also likely to focus on the “Salt Typhoon” Chinese government-affiliated effort to hack U.S. telecom networks (see 2411190073). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and other Biden administration officials were briefing senators on the matter behind closed doors at our deadline.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week again called for Congress to appropriate an additional $3.08 billion to fully fund the commission’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Lawmakers are eyeing a range of legislative vehicles for allocating the additional rip-and-replace money during Congress’ lame-duck session, but some leaders are skeptical a deal is possible (see 2411190064). Thirty program participants certified with the FCC by Nov. 20 “that the removal, replacement, and disposal work … has been completed,” but “many have additional invoices to submit should Congress appropriate additional funding,” Rosenworcel said in letters to the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees and Appropriations Financial Services subcommittees released Monday. The commission has been prorating payments to program participants absent additional appropriations (see 2305040085). As of Nov. 20, the FCC “granted 139 extensions” for participants to complete the rip-and-replace work beyond statutory deadlines, “including 118 based in whole or in part on the funding shortfall,” Rosenworcel told lawmakers. “Some participants … have informed the Commission that they fear that they may need to shut down portions of their networks and withdraw from this process without completing the removal of insecure equipment” if Congress doesn’t allocate the rest of the money. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan, a vocal backer of the program, said in a statement the “lack of necessary funding, as detailed in [Rosenworcel’s] letter, is alarming and far-reaching.” Some participants “have already shut down portions of their networks” and the lack of full funding “poses grave risks to U.S. national security, as insecure foreign-made communications equipment remains operational.”

Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., led filing Friday of a Senate companion version of the DiasporaLink Act (HR-3385). The measure, which the House passed in March, would direct NTIA to research the feasibility of building an undersea fiber cable between the U.S. and Africa. “Every day, China is laying the groundwork to dominate Africa by controlling internet infrastructure,” Kennedy said. “Beijing is building undersea cables for intelligence transmission, financial transactions and more. This bipartisan bill would help the U.S. defend American interests and support our friends in Africa against the predations of Communist” China. Warnock said, “This bipartisan effort is a crucial first step in strengthening America’s global leadership in the telecommunications space -- something that impacts our daily lives in an increasingly digital world.”

House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., are asking the FCC to examine Taiwan-based Foxlink’s purchase earlier this year of Dahua Technology’s U.S. arm. The lawmakers believe the sale is an attempt to evade federal agencies’ blacklisting of Dahua cameras destined for government facilities, critical infrastructure surveillance or other national security uses. “Publicly available information about the deal suggests Dahua’s firmware and software will still be developed in” China and “therefore controlled by” that country’s government, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Outside analysts have noted that they ‘expect Dahua to use Foxlink ... [to] claim that they no longer manufacture or produce these products. And the argument will then become, if they no longer produce those products, that US government regulations such as the FCC new device authorization or [National Defense Authorization Act] government bans can no longer be applied.” The lawmakers asked the FCC for a briefing on its findings, including “the possibility that it may be an effort to circumvent statutory restrictions on Dahua cameras in the U.S., without addressing the underlying national security risks such restrictions seek to remedy.”

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said Thursday night he’s endorsing aide Olivia Trusty to be President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the FCC seat current Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel intends to vacate Jan. 20 (see 2411210028). Trusty worked on telecom issues for Wicker when he chaired the Senate Commerce Committee and Communications Subcommittee. She is among several potential contenders to become the FCC’s third Republican who lobbyists and other observers have mentioned since Trump won a second term earlier this month (see 2411060042). “There is absolutely no one more capable of serving as an FCC Commissioner than Olivia Trusty, and I am confident that President Trump and his team will come to that same conclusion quickly,” Wicker said in a statement. Lobbyists previously tipped Trusty as a potential FCC candidate in 2020 after Trump revoked then-Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination (see 2009090001). Wicker touted her as a potential Republican FTC nominee in 2022 (see 2209130065).

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, quickly rejected speculation Thursday that he might be in contention to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee soon after ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew as the nominee. “I am staying right where I am,” Cruz told reporters. “I am not going anywhere.” Cruz was Texas’ attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2012 and is likely to take over as Senate Commerce chairman in January when Republicans reclaim a majority in the chamber (see 2411060043). Gaetz, who as a House Judiciary Committee member was involved in the panel’s work on antitrust and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 issues (see 2404120044), withdrew amid some Republican senators’ clear misgivings about confirming him to lead DOJ given he was the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe into sexual misconduct claims.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday to “withdraw” a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for its $1.25 billion digital equity competitive grant program (see 2408300003) “and halt issuing Program grants before you cause real harm.” The initiative is among the broadband programs funded via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “NTIA’s use of racial classifications, as set forth in the [digital equity competitive grant program] NOFO, does not serve a compelling governmental interest,” Cruz said in a letter to Davidson. He contends that language requiring grant applicants to prioritize “Covered Populations” violates the Fifth Amendment's due process clause because the agency doesn’t provide evidence of racial discrimination in internet access and lacks clear metrics. “The NOFO provides no evidence racial minorities face discrimination in accessing the internet, let alone specific instances of discrimination that NTIA is seeking to address,” Cruz said: It also “does not define 'minority,' making it impossible to determine whether it is underinclusive, but in any event, it is overinclusive because it includes anyone who falls into some racial group, without any determination that that specific group has faced discrimination in access to broadband.” Cruz wants NTIA to respond by Dec. 12 indicating it’s going to withdraw the language or justify its constitutionality. NTIA didn’t immediately comment. Cruz has been critical of NTIA’s implementation of other IIJA connectivity initiatives, including the $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2410210043).

The FCC should open an investigation into a Chinese hacking campaign that allegedly targeted communications from Vice President-elect JD Vance and the presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday. Blumenthal was referring to a Chinese hacking known as the Salt Typhoon attack. In addition to the investigation, Blumenthal urged the FCC to begin a rulemaking process. Chinese hackers allegedly breached several American phone companies in an attempt to spy on American political targets, said Blumenthal during a hearing before the Senate Privacy Subcommittee, which he chairs. From a legal standpoint, the FCC can “set and enforce security standards,” he said. The investigation should be supported with “bipartisan unity,” and it can be carried over from the Biden administration to the Trump FCC, he added. Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin testified that high-profile attacks like Salt Typhoon indicate a “need to address vulnerabilities within our [information and communications technology] ICT supply chain and mitigate them wherever possible.” He noted TIA’s 2022 development of SCS 9001, “the ICT industry’s first Supply Chain Security standard.” Stehlin called for a public-private “partnership that builds in the elements needed to verify trust and continually improve.” Blumenthal addressed issues related to TikTok, saying President-elect Donald Trump can’t ignore a new law setting a Jan. 19 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest from the social media app (see 2411140057). Trump can extend the deadline once but can’t ignore the law, Blumenthal said: “If he wants to change the law, he can try,” but Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.