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).

The Wireless Infrastructure Association urged Congress Thursday to “reintroduce and pass” the 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act backed by Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. It would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority and proposes requiring NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum the federal government can reallocate within the next five years (see 2403110066). Congressional GOP leaders are eyeing using a coming budget reconciliation package to address spectrum issues, including reauthorizing the FCC’s mandate (see 2501070069). WIA also urged NTIA to “accelerate” the national spectrum strategy. “We need to move beyond studies and get to solutions that meet industry needs while respecting critical government functions,” it said. WIA urged lawmakers to refile the American Broadband Deployment Act permitting package that the House Commerce Committee approved in 2023 (see 2305240069). The measure, which groups together more than 20 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills, drew unanimous opposition from House Commerce Democrats, and local government groups continued lobbying against the measure last year (see 2409180052). “A consistent permitting framework set at a national level, but flexible enough to accommodate local needs and interests, is the key to sustained success for wireless infrastructure deployment,” WIA said. The group “values and respects the need for local permitting processes; the reforms WIA proposes all build upon that premise, but with safeguards built in where the level of review becomes unpredictable, untimely, disproportionate, or unworkably opaque.”

A proposal by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, to relocate 30% of the workforce of every executive agency to outside the Washington, D.C., area wouldn’t affect the FCC or FTC. Both are classified as independent agencies and therefore fall outside the bill’s scope. Ernst filed the Decentralizing and Reorganizing Agency Infrastructure Nationwide To Harness Efficient Services, Workforce Administration, and Management Practices Act earlier this week. It could affect NTIA, part of the Commerce Department, if enacted.

USTelecom, NTCA and the Competitive Carriers Association congratulated Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Tuesday night and Wednesday for his official accession to become Senate Commerce Committee chairman (see 2501070083). Cruz “has long shared the broadband community’s deep commitment to ensuring the United States remains a global leader in innovation and connectivity,” USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said. “Together, we can and will advance the promise and power of broadband innovation across all corners of America.” CCA CEO Tim Donovan said Cruz “has been dedicated to fostering growth, innovation, and U.S. leadership in the telecommunications marketplace, including in rural America. We look forward to continued collaboration with him and the entire Commerce Committee to preserve and expand connectivity nationwide for all Americans.” NTCA and its members “look forward to working with the chairman and the entire committee to advance and sustain connectivity in rural America,” said CEO Shirley Bloomfield.

The Senate Republican Conference ratified Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas Tuesday as Commerce Committee chairman, as expected (see 2411040049). Cruz said in a statement his top priority remains “pursuing policies that will create jobs and spur economic growth,” including by “expanding commercial access to electromagnetic spectrum.” Cruz is among the congressional GOP leaders eyeing using a coming budget reconciliation package to address spectrum issues, including restoring the FCC’s lapsed auction authority (see 2501070069). “I look forward to continuing to work with” Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., “and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find common ground and deliver results that will make a difference in the daily lives of the American people,” he said. The panel will have 15 Republicans during this Congress, including freshman Sens. John Curtis of Utah, Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Tim Sheehy of Montana (see 2412230014). There will be 13 Democrats, including three new party members (see [Ref:2501030050}).