President Donald Trump signed the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) Friday, despite a last-minute threat to veto the measure. The Senate passed the omnibus early Friday 65-32, after behind-the-scenes "begging, pleading and cajoling" to assuage objections from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the floor.
The Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) moved a step closer to enactment Thursday when the House passed the measure 256-167. House leaders released the bill's full text Wednesday evening after a deal between President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill leaders (see 1803210041 and 1803210068). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture on the spending bill late Thursday, setting up a first vote around 1 a.m. Saturday, shortly after the current continuing resolution to fund the government is set to expire. McConnell and others remained concerned Thursday that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., might move to force a brief government shutdown, as he did in February (see 1802060054 and Notebook at the end of 1802090050).
Trump administration officials' repeated citations of the national security implications of maintaining U.S. leadership in 5G innovation are a sign Congress needs to act on broader telecom policy issues that would help sustain that dominance, lawmakers and industry officials told us. The administration mentioned 5G deployment in its December national security strategy (see 1712180071 and 1712270032).
The FY 2018 omnibus spending bill contains language from the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), as expected. House leaders released the spending bill's text Wednesday evening. The House could vote on the measure as soon as Thursday, with a Senate vote to follow. The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday.
Capitol Hill's expected Monday night release of the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill looked more uncertain at our deadline, but several lawmakers and aides said they believe the legislation will include the text of the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986). The leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees have been eyeing the omnibus as a vehicle for enacting HR-4986 since last month, before the House passed the legislation (see 1802270055, 1803010056 and 1803060046). The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (HR-4943/S-2383) could also be included in the omnibus (see 1803150059). The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday. Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other lawmakers separately told reporters they were hopeful but not certain the omnibus text would be finalized Monday night amid disagreements on several issues. Thune told reporters he is confident HR-4986 would be in the omnibus but "nobody knows until you see it." There was still "a whole bunch of stuff" under negotiation at our deadline, Thune said. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over the FCC budget, told reporters she is "very confident" that spectrum provisions included in HR-4986 are in the omnibus but "in terms of FCC reauthorization, I don't have a definite answer on that." HR-4986 includes language from the Viewer Protection Act (HR-3347) to authorize additional repack funding (see 1803080049) and from the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) that would let the FCC place bidders' deposits for future spectrum auctions in a Treasury Department fund. It also includes a revised version of language from the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill (see 1803020027 and 1803060046). "We're still optimistic” that HR-4986 will be included in the omnibus, but “anything can happen” since negotiations were continuing Monday on several items in the larger spending package, one aide told us. It’s unlikely that last-minute misgivings voiced by Public Knowledge and others (see 1803160059) about language drawn from the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-599/S-174) would endanger HR-4986’s prospects of being included in the spending bill, another aide said. The House passed HR-599 in early 2017. The Senate approved S-174 and other telecom-related bills in August as part of a deal to confirm Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1708030060). The legislative language from S-174 would consolidate several FCC reports into a single biennial “Communications Marketplace Report.” Congressional Democratic leaders have backed consolidated reporting, with previous versions of HR-599/S-174 passing “unanimously” out of the House and Senate several times, so “it’s a little late in the game” for PK and others to object to the provisions now, an aide said.
The Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) “will go through the Senate” one way or another, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, set to be telecast Saturday. The House passed HR-4986 earlier this week (see 1803060046), but it remains unclear whether the measure will make it onto the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill.
House leaders formally set a Tuesday floor vote on a compromise version of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization bill (HR-4986) under suspension of the rules, as expected (see 1803010056). Leaders didn’t yet estimate what time the vote would occur. The amended bill now contains a revised version of language from the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill, as part of an agreement announced Friday between the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees (see 1708030060 and 1803010056). The lawmakers and their staffs agreed to assuage concerns from DOD and other federal agencies about S-19’s previous language by nearly halving -- to 255 MHz -- the amount of spectrum they would be required to identify for broadband use by 2022. The 500 MHz figure previously delineated in S-19 was somewhat "already dated,” a House aide said: “It was a concession to DOD but in some ways it was a matter of updating the spectrum provisions” to reflect reallocation progress by federal agencies. HR-4986 includes language to authorize additional TV incentive auction repack funding (see 1802140064) and from the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) that would let the FCC place bidders' deposits in future spectrum auctions in a Treasury Department fund (see 1710250026). HR-4986 already also reflected a raft of other Senate bills, including the Rural Wireless Access Act (S-1621), which the Senate passed last week under unanimous consent (see 1710100066 and 1803020026). The revised bill also eliminates all but one provision from the FCC Process Reform Act (HR-290) that had been included in earlier House Commerce-cleared versions of the bill at the behest of Senate Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. The remaining HR-290 language extends an existing exemption of FCC USF expenditures from Anti-Deficiency Act requirements.
David Redl is likely to face a wide range of questions from House Communications Subcommittee members Tuesday about his vision for NTIA, as he makes his Capitol Hill hearing debut as administrator. Likely topics include plans to study the 3450-3550 MHz band for wireless broadband and his views on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, Hill aides and industry lobbyists said in interviews. The panel intended the hearing to focus on oversight of NTIA and to discuss the agency’s $33.6 million FY 2019 budget proposal, down from the $36 million requested in FY 2018 but largely on par with funding for the year under continuing appropriations (see 1802120037 and 1802050025).
The leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees said they reached a deal to advance legislation on FCC reauthorization and a range of spectrum issues, as expected (see 1802270055, 1802280049 and 1803010056). The deal covers provisions from the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization bill (HR-4986) and the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill (see 1708030060). HR-4986, which cleared House Commerce earlier this month, includes language to authorize additional repack funding (see 1802140064). The bill also includes language from the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) that would let the FCC place bidders' deposits for future spectrum auctions in a Treasury Department fund (see 1710250026). Lawmakers also agreed to include provisions to combat robocalls and "direct the FCC to craft a national policy for unlicensed spectrum that includes certain specific considerations and recommendations." The House is to vote on an amended version of HR-4986 Tuesday that covers the agreed-to language, said House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. The deal does "what no legislation has done in 28 years -- it reauthorizes the FCC and includes provisions that help make sure that the Commission is transparent, efficient, and ready for the 21st century communications landscape," said Walden, Pallone, Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in a joint statement Friday. "This bipartisan, bicameral product puts consumers first and solidifies the nation’s critical telecommunications infrastructure, giving the U.S. a global edge in the race to 5G and improving internet services across the country." The lawmakers didn't clarify if the deal includes an agreement to attach the FCC and telecom policy language to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill, as was previously under negotiation. A telecom lobbyist told us the omnibus is still "very much in the running" as a legislative vehicle for the agreement, saying the announcement shows they've "taken the needed steps" to make that process possible. Walden is "looking at multiple avenues, including the omnibus, to ensure [HR-4986] moves forward," a House Commerce spokeswoman said. Other committee spokesmen didn't comment. Several communications sector groups lauded the agreement, including CTIA, NAB and TIA.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said they are moving closer to a deal with House Commerce Committee leaders to attach language on FCC reauthorization and some spectrum issues to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill. No deal was yet reached. The lawmakers have been negotiating over provisions from the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization bill (HR-4986) and the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill (see 1708030060, 1802270055 and 1802280049).