House Commerce Sets Shutdown Hearing, Seen Eyeing T-Mobile/Sprint Panel
The House Commerce Committee will step into the messaging battle about the ongoing partial government shutdown next week via a planned Jan. 31 hearing aimed at examining the shuttering's effects on federal agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, which include the FCC and FTC, Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during a Thursday committee meeting. House Commerce is working to schedule an expected net neutrality hearing for February. It’s also considering a joint hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to examine T-Mobile's proposed buy of Sprint, lobbyists said.
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“I never thought that the shutdown would still be going on when this committee had a chance to organize,” Pallone said during the Thursday meeting. “It is very unfortunate.” The shuttering reached its 34th day Thursday. It's “important” for House Commerce to examine how the shutdown is affecting agencies under its purview given how many of them were affected, Pallone later told reporters. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the committee said.
“I can't say specifically which” federal agencies House Commerce will focus on during the hearing yet because it was just scheduled, after House Republicans clarified they were postponing a planned retreat originally set for next week, Pallone told reporters. He said he wasn't sure whether the committee will ask federal officials to testify. The hiatus already has been seen as affecting Capitol Hill's ability to do oversight of the FCC (see 1901160031).
Congress appeared no closer Thursday to reaching an end to the impasse with President Donald Trump over funding for a border wall that precipitated the shutdown. The Senate failed to advance dueling partisan versions of legislation to end the shutdown (HR-268), as neither reached the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture. The chamber voted 52-44 for a Democratic-favored amendment that would have instituted a continuing resolution to reopen shuttered portions of the government through Feb. 8. Senators voted 50-47 for a GOP-backed version that would have fully funded government for the remainder of FY 2019 and included wall funding.
The GOP-backed measure would have given the FCC $339 million, including $11 million for the Office of Inspector General. It would have allocated almost $310 million to the FTC and $39.5 million to NTIA.
House Commerce's shutdown hearing will push into February dates for three other previously announced hearings on other issues, Pallone said. House Commerce hasn't set a date for its planned net neutrality hearing, but it's still likely to happen during February, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa.
House Commerce and House Judiciary are exploring a T-Mobile/Sprint hearing, targeting a joint panel to happen before April 1, communications sector lobbyists said. The shutdown put an effective pause on FCC and DOJ reviews of the deal (see 1901160037). “We haven't decided yet” whether to hold a T-Mobile/Sprint hearing, though there’s interest among House Commerce Democrats, Doyle told us. More than a dozen groups jointly wrote Democratic leaders of the two committees in November encouraging them to probe the deal (see 1811280071).
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and four other Senate Commerce Committee Democrats wrote committee leaders Thursday urging them to hold their own hearing on T-Mobile/Sprint. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., led the letter, which also drew support from Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. “The potential consequences of this merger are too great for [Senate Commerce] to ignore,” the senators wrote committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Senate Antitrust held a hearing on the deal last year (see 1806270068), but “there are several complex issues that remain regarding how this merger might affect wireless consumers, prices, and innovation.” Senate Commerce should examine “how this merger could adversely impact low-income consumers,” the Democratic lawmakers said. Senate Commerce didn't comment.
House Commerce moved during its Thursday meeting to approve its rules for the 116th Congress and previously announced subcommittee assignments and structure, including the leadership of the Communications and Consumer Protection subpanels (see 1901230046). House Communications will have 18 Democrats and 13 Republicans, including Chairman Doyle and ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. House Consumer Protection will have 14 Democrats and 10 Republicans, headed by Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.