Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voiced support Thursday for extending ByteDance’s Jan. 19 deadline to divest TikTok after Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., unsuccessfully attempted to advance his Extend the TikTok Deadline Act (S-103) delay proposal Wednesday night by unanimous consent. S-103 and House companion HR-391 seek a 270-day extension of the divestment deadline (see 2501140075). “We aren’t against TikTok,” Schumer said on the floor Thursday. “We want TikTok to keep going. But we are against a Chinese company that is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party owning TikTok.” Schumer said TikTok “as it exists today has too many security risks that cannot be ignored,” but it’s “clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built up a good network of followers.” It’s “stunning” that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected to Markey’s bid to move S-103 by UC because “time is running short,” Schumer said: “We will continue to work to find a responsible solution to keeping TikTok going, protect American livelihoods and protect against Chinese Communist Party surveillance. We must and can do all three.”

House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., urged that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. review Skydance Media's proposed $8 billion purchase of Paramount Global because of Tencent’s investment in Skydance. The Center for American Rights argued earlier this week that Tencent’s status as part of DOD’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. warrants an FCC probe of Skydance/Paramount (see 2501140048). “We’ve heard from multiple Hollywood executives about rampant self-censorship designed to curry favor with the Chinese Communist Party,” Moolenaar said in a statement Wednesday night. DOD’s recent classification of “Tencent as a Chinese military company” means “CFIUS should closely scrutinize the proposed merger to ensure the Chinese Communist Party is not further solidifying its hold on the American entertainment industry.” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., in a separate statement, said the “potential for a [People's Republic of China] national champion like Tencent to hold a significant financial stake in a major US content conglomerate raises serious concerns and should absolutely prompt CFIUS scrutiny.”

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Wednesday he's retaining the chairmen of subcommittees with jurisdiction over the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies, the DOJ Antitrust Division and CPB. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, will continue leading the Financial Services Subcommittee. Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., will remain ranking member. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., will keep the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., is the subpanel's new ranking member. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., will retain his post as Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee chairman. Aderholt spearheaded bids in 2023 and 2024 to end CPB's advance appropriations (see 2407100060). House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut will continue as the subpanel's lead Democrat.

Bipartisan, bicameral legislation filed Tuesday seeks a 270-day delay for ByteDance’s Jan. 19 deadline to divest TikTok (see 2501100058). Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., along with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act. “The TikTok ban was rushed through without sufficient consideration of the profound consequences it would have on the 170 million Americans who use the platform,” said Markey. The bill “is a straightforward, one-sentence bill designed to give Congress the time needed to fully assess the implications of this ban.”

House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Tuesday he’s keeping Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., as Communications Subcommittee ranking member, as expected (see 2412170053). Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., will stay on as Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee ranking member, Pallone said. Eight Democrats will join House Communications: Nanette Barragan of California, Kathy Castor of Florida, Troy Carter of Louisiana, Greg Landsman of Ohio, Jennifer McClellan of Virginia, Rob Menendez of New Jersey, Scott Peters of California and Raul Ruiz of California. House Commerce will meet Wednesday to ratify the subcommittees’ leaders and approve the panel’s rules for this Congress (see 2501130031).

Congress' oversight of broadband subsidy programs should include moving universal service funding from a surcharge to direct congressional appropriations, the Competitive Enterprise Institute said Tuesday as it issued "a pro-growth agenda" for the 119th Congress. CEI urged a focus on reform and oversight of BEAD and reauthorization of the FCC's spectrum auction authority. The libertarian public policy organization also said Congress should oppose efforts at repealing or curtailing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump's choice as director of national intelligence, supports maintaining controversial surveillance authorities under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, according to a statement Friday. An opponent of FISA Section 702 while serving as a House Democrat, Gabbard now says she believes it’s “crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad." Federal law enforcement agencies use Section 702 to compel phone companies and internet service providers to share communications data, including phone calls, texts and emails, for investigations of foreign targets. Privacy advocates have long sought a warrant requirement for Section 702. In 2018, Gabbard spoke against renewing Section 702, saying it violates civil liberties. Friday she said, "My prior concerns about FISA were based on insufficient protections for civil liberties, particularly regarding the FBI's misuse of warrantless search powers on American citizens.” Gabbard added, “Significant FISA reforms have been enacted since my time in Congress to address these issues.”

Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation broadband and spectrum policy director, urged Congress Monday to “create a more targeted and durable” version of the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program “by aligning funding priorities with the remaining causes of the digital divide." Kane added: "By prioritizing affordability rather than deployment, the new program can connect low-income households without new federal spending.” He suggested Congress should revise ACP rules to provide its previous $30 monthly broadband subsidy but restrict it to “households at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty level or in their first three months of unemployment insurance.” Now-Vice President-elect JD Vance and Senate Communications Subcommittee then-Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in May proposed the same change to ACP eligibility as part of an unsuccessful bid to give the program $6 billion in stopgap funding via an FCC reauthorization package (see 2405080047). There “is good reason to think” ACP’s eligibility criteria, including allowing a household to qualify if its combined income were up to 200% of the federal poverty line, “were overinclusive,” Kane said. He discounted proposals restricting ACP funding to first-time broadband subscribers, saying objections “on these grounds make the category mistake of conflating affordability with choices made under a budget constraint.”

The House Commerce Committee will hold its organizational meeting for the 119th Congress Wednesday, Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Monday. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The panel will vote to set its rules for this Congress and ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey will announce Democratic leaders and membership for the subcommittees. Pallone said last week that the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee added Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York and six other party members to House Commerce. The other additions: Reps. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, Troy Carter of Louisiana, Rob Menendez of New Jersey, Kevin Mullin of California, Greg Landsman of Ohio and Jennifer McClellan of Virginia.

Economic Policy Innovation Center CEO Paul Winfree urged President-elect Donald Trump to nominate Senate Commerce Committee GOP Telecom Policy Director Arielle Roth to the FCC seat Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will vacate Jan. 20. Roth “would be phenomenal” as an FCC commissioner, Winfree said on X Friday night. The office of Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to become chairman, said last week he doesn’t oppose Trump naming Roth, although lobbyists cited his earlier misgivings about her (see 2501100043). Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is championing a Roth nomination behind the scenes (see 2412110046).