The office of Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned as “legal hair-splitting” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s reasoning on Wheeler’s lack of obligation to consult with Congress on forming any new net neutrality rules. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the FCC’s net neutrality rules in a mid-January decision but affirmed the agency’s authority over broadband. At issue was a commitment Wheeler made to Thune, ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, during Wheeler’s confirmation process last year. Thune had asked Wheeler, in a question for the record (http://1.usa.gov/1eRqgVg): “Please answer yes or no -- if you are confirmed and if the FCC’s Open Internet order is struck down in the courts, will you come to Congress for more direction before attempting another iteration of network neutrality rules?” Wheeler replied yes. But Wheeler told The New York Times in an interview last week that he felt no obligation to return to Congress because the court decision affirmed the FCC’s Communications Act Section 706 authority over broadband, despite vacating the net neutrality rules. “What I said was if the Open Internet Order was thrown out by the court, of course I would talk to Congress,” Wheeler told the newspaper (http://nyti.ms/1bSpdDg). “But the Open Internet Order was not thrown out by the court. In fact, the court affirmed our authority.” The FCC confirmed to us the accuracy of the quote in the newspaper. But Thune’s office did not buy the argument, saying the question was never one of authority but one of new rules. “Senator Thune certainly believes the Chairman needs to abide by his commitment to return to Congress for more direction before trying to impose net neutrality restrictions again,” a spokeswoman for Thune told us this week. “Considering The New York Times itself has reported that the court ’threw out’ and ‘invalidated’ the net neutrality parts of the Open Internet Order, as has nearly every media outlet and commentator who has written about the case, the Chairman’s parsing of the decision sounds like legal hair-splitting. Senator Thune hopes the Chairman will avail himself of this opportunity to work with Congress and key stakeholders, rather than repeating the mistakes of the past on this issue.” Senate and House Democrats introduced legislation last month to restore net neutrality rules, and the bill, while not seen as likely to move, is seen as a signal pushing the FCC to act. “We would really like to see Chairman Wheeler come consult with Congress before engaging in any action in regard to this court order,” said Jason Van Beek, Senate Commerce Republican deputy general counsel, Tuesday during a NARUC panel. The FCC has an Office of Legislative Affairs and regularly interacts with Congress with varying levels of formality.

It’s time for “the next level” of E-rate, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a Sunday op-ed for The Metro West Daily News (http://bit.ly/1fZq5Yn). As a member of the House during the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, Markey helped create E-rate. He praised President Barack Obama’s proposed expansion of E-rate, in an initiative known as ConnectED, and said there’s a “need to focus on wireless access in schools and libraries and enabling students to learn using the latest technologies.”

The House Small Business Committee plans a hearing on wireless issues Tuesday, at 1 p.m. in 2360 Rayburn. The hearing is “to examine the rapid growth in innovative wireless technologies being developed or utilized by small firms, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) technology,” said a notice the committee issued. “The hearing will focus on the development of wireless products, the economic benefits and capabilities of these technologies, and potential barriers that could constrain the further growth and development of the wireless economy.” Witnesses are Darrell West, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Tech Innovation; Leo McCloskey, the Intelligent Transportation Society’s senior vice president-technical programs; Brian Marshall, owner of Marshall Farms, testifying on behalf of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farm Bureau Federation; and Michael Feldman, BigBelly Solar vice president-engineering. West plans to outline the many virtues of the wireless industry but focus on “obstacles that make it difficult for small businesses to take advantage of the mobile revolution,” according to his written testimony. These obstacles include financing, regulation, spectrum availability, infrastructure and access, he will say. West will advocate for “a research credit for new firms that earn less than $5 million” to help get them off the ground, and more-flexible government rules. Speaking of the proposed broadcast incentive spectrum auction, West will say, “Legislators should make sure that small businesses have a fair shot at competing for unused spectrum and that entrepreneurs from diverse walks of life have an opportunity to bid on spectrum.” He will criticize those entities he says hold spectrum but do not pay for it -- “military forces, broadcast television, and government agencies” -- and will suggest they be made to pay fees. Local communities should also “streamline the approval process for building new cell towers and laying fiber optic lines,” West will say.

The House Transportation Committee will mark up a bill to outlaw in-flight conversation on cellphones. The markup is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in 2167 Rayburn. The bill is HR-3676, the Prohibiting In-Flight Voice Communications on Mobile Wireless Devices Act.

A Republican lawmaker again called for updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to better protect U.S. citizens’ privacy. “Today we find ourselves in a fight of epic proportion as it relates to our individual liberties and their preservation,” Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2014 Conservative Policy Summit, lamenting an “out-of-control surveillance state,” the many leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and secret courts with secret roles. He cited a bill he introduced last summer, HR-1847, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act, which would require the government to have a warrant or written consent before reading email or text messages. That bill has 24 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations in mid-June. Salmon is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Omnibus legislation “probably wouldn’t stand a very good chance of passage,” Salmon said, saying he backs multiple pieces of legislation on the topic and the need for a step-by-step approach. Other issues remain on the table in terms of commercial tracking, Salmon said. “I hate the cookies,” he said, saying “that should be addressed as well.”

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., plans to talk to NARUC about broadband deployment, the consumer protection implications of data breaches and 911 wireless location accuracy issues pegged to public safety, a spokeswoman for the senator told us. Pryor is scheduled to speak Tuesday morning at NARUC’s winter meeting in Washington at about 8:35 a.m., according to a NARUC spokesman. Pryor recently held a hearing on 911 wireless location issues, where he pushed the FCC to develop standards.

Public Knowledge took to The Hill op-ed pages to argue that Congress should broadly update video marketplace rules. “The existing rules are slanted too far in favor of broadcasters,” Public Knowledge Staff Attorney John Bergmayer said (http://bit.ly/1eYgNIe). “Congress should fix this, not to benefit any one industry, but to help viewers.” He called retransmission consent rules “one piece of the puzzle” but also cited several lawmakers who have focused on different aspects of the video marketplace in need of change. He backs the elimination of “basic tier buy-through,” he said: “Under this policy, which is rooted in both statute and FCC regulation, all pay-TV customers are required to buy cable packages that include a complete broadcast lineup.” There are many “negative effects,” such as a tilting of negotiation power in favor of broadcasters and against cable companies, Bergmayer said. “It’s curious that Public Knowledge, a purported public interest group, supports eliminating the tier of channels that provides by far the most popular content and lifeline service at the lowest possible price,” NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton told us. “That may be pro-Big Cable, but it’s hardly pro-consumer."

The House Communications Subcommittee postponed its hearing on broadband stimulus projects, initially set for Tuesday. The subcommittee didn’t reschedule the hearing.

President Barack Obama signed HR-2642, known as the farm bill, into law Friday. “This bill helps rural communities by investing in hospitals and schools, affordable housing, broadband infrastructure -- all the things that help attract more businesses and make life easier for working families,” Obama said at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to address the House’s rural telecom working group at the end of the month, a Hill staffer told the NARUC subcommittee in Washington Friday. Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., announced the creation of the working group last spring. Patrick Satalin, an aide to Welch, said Wheeler would be addressing the working group. Any Communications Act overhaul will be “front and center” and leave other items “overshadowed,” said Olivia Trusty, an aide to Latta. She expects the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process, E-rate expansion, spectrum auctions and FirstNet to be major topics in 2014. She anticipates a Communications Act revamp white paper on public safety later this year, among the others that House Republicans have promised as part of updating the Communications Act. Trusty mentioned the Republican Commerce Committee leadership request that the FCC refer any E-rate expansion to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service and called that “a good recommendation.” Welch is focused on the potential benefits of smaller spectrum license sizes and call completion problems, which the FCC is looking at, Satalin said: “Hopefully they continue to beat the drum there.” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sees E-rate expansion as “extremely important,” Markey Senior Policy Adviser Joey Wender said. “The next step is increasing the speed and making sure there’s access throughout buildings.” Wender mentioned the IP transition and privacy as major issues on Markey’s agenda. Josh Lynch, aide to Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said data security and the questions on the Target breach are important. Lynch sees potential for “bipartisan consensus,” referring to the FCC Process Reform Act that cleared the House Commerce Committee in December and was introduced in the Senate last week. Those in the Senate perhaps do “need to take a look at the bill,” Wender said.