Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Wednesday refiled the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act to revamp the FCC’s licensing processes. The bill would set a one-year deadline for the FCC to fully evaluate a satellite license application. It would also direct the FCC to issue performance requirements for satellite licensees to meet on space safety and orbital debris, as well as cap the length of foreign satellite systems’ U.S. licenses at 15 years. The House failed to pass a previous version of the measure during the last Congress amid a jurisdictional fight between the House Commerce and Science committees (see 2307260037).

The House Communications Subcommittee set a Thursday markup session on advancing the Next Generation 911 Act (HR-6505) and five other public safety communications bills. HR-6505 would set up federal grants to pay for NG911 technology upgrades but doesn’t include a defined amount of proposed funding. A previous iteration of the measure in the last Congress allocated $15 billion for the tech upgrades (see 2303240067). Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans have since filed the Supporting U.S. Critical Connectivity and Economic Strategy and Security for BEAD Act (HR-6920/S-3565) to allow states to repurpose non-deployment BEAD funding for NG911 and other purposes. The House Communications meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday.

Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr wouldn’t confirm or deny Monday night whether he will be among the witnesses at a yet-to-be-scheduled Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the FCC’s 39% national TV station audience reach cap (see 2601120064). Earlier, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy confirmed he will be testifying in opposition to proposals for the FCC to eliminate or ease the cap (see 2512150046). Senate Commerce is looking at late January for its hearing, but lobbyists said the panel may delay it until February.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture Tuesday on a motion to proceed on the House-passed minibus FY26 package (HR-6938), which would increase NTIA’s annual funding to $50 million (see 2601080070). Thune's cloture filing set up further Senate votes on the measure for later this week. The upper chamber voted 80-13 Monday night to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy confirmed to us Monday that he will be among the witnesses at an expected Senate Commerce Committee hearing later this month examining the FCC’s national TV station audience reach cap. Ruddy has vocally opposed proposals for the FCC to eliminate or ease the 39% cap (see 2512150046).

Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees released a compromise FY 2026 minibus spending package (HR-7006) on Sunday night that would mirror President Donald Trump’s request to increase the FCC’s annual funding but decrease the FTC’s allocation (see 2506020056). Meanwhile, the Senate planned to vote Monday night on the motion to invoke cloture on the House-passed minibus FY26 package (HR-6938), which would increase NTIA’s annual funding to $50 million (see 2601080070).

House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee ranking member Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday that he won't seek reelection this year. Hoyer, a former House majority leader, holds a key role in shaping FCC and FTC appropriations. He clashed with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr during a hearing in May over how much the Wireline Bureau based its approval of Verizon’s $20 billion purchase of Frontier on the carrier agreeing to end its workforce equity programs (see 2505160050). House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., lamented Hoyer's planned departure and praised his work on the panel. Hoyer has been in the House since 1981.

Senior Senate Commerce Committee member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told reporters Tuesday that she’s “seriously considering” running for governor after incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced that he won’t seek reelection to a third term. Klobuchar has been active on rural broadband and other communications policy matters. She was among several Senate Commerce Democrats who criticized FCC Chairman Brendan Carr during a December hearing over his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as causing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air (see 2512170070).

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and 15 other Democratic members of New York’s congressional delegation urged NTIA on Friday to allow the state “to retain and use BEAD non-deployment funds for broadband adoption.” BEAD’s non-deployment funding, which some estimates have found to account for $20 billion of the program’s $42.5 billion total, has faced challenges from the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans. President Donald Trump earlier this month issued an executive order that directs NTIA to potentially curtail non-deployment BEAD funding for states that the administration determines have overly burdensome AI laws (see 2512120048).

Nicole Gustafson, NAB's senior vice president of government relations, said during a podcast released Friday that she's “very optimistic” that the House will vote on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979) “early next year,” given recent evidence of momentum in the measure’s favor.