Jimm Phillips

There's a strong possibility Senate leaders will set a vote to invoke cloture on Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez for Wednesday, several communications policy lobbyists told us Tuesday. Those lobbyists and others cautioned that a cloture vote could still happen Thursday instead, an outcome that appeared the likeliest outcome last week. A Thursday cloture vote would mean a final confirmation vote on Gomez would not happen until next week, while holding it Wednesday cloture vote would set the Senate up to approve her earlier. The chamber was expected to vote Tuesday night on President Joe Biden’s nomination of Federal Reserve Board member Philip Jefferson to be the body’s vice chairman, one of a few high-profile administration nominees along with Gomez that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture on before the August recess (see 2307280074).

Three telecom policy stakeholder groups urged Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders Friday to include stronger accountability rules in USF revamp legislation but diverged on some other goals. The entities were responding to a late July feedback request from Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and other USF working group members for feedback on the path forward on legislation (see 2305110066). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, meanwhile, is pushing back against criticisms from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of the agency's Learning Without Limits proposal to allow E-rate program money to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and for hot spots (see 2307310063).

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to move forward on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) on amending state USF rules. The PUC during a livestreamed meeting approved a bid by Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille to seek comment on what she said are “broad questions about the challenges of supporting voice and internet networks and services” as part of the ANOPR. The PUC postponed considering the rulemaking proposal in early August (see 2308020057). Comments on the ANOPR in docket L-2023-3040646 are due 90 days after its publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, with replies due within 120 days.

Anti-5G group Americans for Responsible Technology is trying to organize formal opposition to the House Commerce Committee-cleared American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-3557) and other bills promoted as streamlining regulatory reviews of connectivity projects, ahead of what the group believes will be an attempt to fast-track the measures after Congress returns from the August recess after Labor Day. House Commerce advanced HR-3557, a package of GOP-led connectivity permitting revamp measures, on a party-line 27-23 vote in May, with all Democrats opposed (see 2305240069). Wired Broadband President Odette Wilkens and three lawyers rallied ART supporters against HR-3557 and other measures during a Wednesday webcast.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., declared themselves at odds Monday with the FCC’s decision to delay awarding the spectrum licenses T-Mobile bought last year in the commission’s 2.5 GHz auction while its sales authority remains lapsed (see 2303220077). The senators’ opposition highlights a growing view among Republicans that the FCC is delaying action on the T-Mobile licenses to spur on slow-moving congressional talks on a spectrum legislative package that would restore the commission’s auction authority (see 2308070001), Senate aides and others told us.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., pressed the FCC Monday to reconsider its decision to hold off on awarding T-Mobile more than 7,000 spectrum licenses it bought last year in the commission’s 2.5 GHz auction while its sales authority remains lapsed. “The FCC appears to be holding onto T-Mobile’s $304 million payment while providing nothing in return,” the GOP leaders said in a letter to Jessica Rosenworcel we obtained first ahead of its release. “If it had been a private company that accepted payment and then refused delivery of goods or services, a customer would be well within its rights to sue for breach of contract. This circumstance is similar, but it is perhaps even more egregiously unfair given the power dynamics: a government regulator is withholding a legitimately obtained good from a regulated entity.”

House Communications Subcommittee leaders told us they plan to continue actively pushing for floor action on the Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) when the chamber returns Sept. 12, despite the measure facing continued opposition from some Senate Republicans. House Commerce leaders tried and failed to get a floor vote on the measure before the August recess (see 2307270063). Lawmakers believe the outcome of a pending DOD study on repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band may affect the prospects for reaching a deal to pass a spectrum legislative package that includes language from HR-3565 and other measures (see 2308070001).

Senators, communications sector lobbyists and other observers are bracing for the potential impact that a pending DOD study’s recommendations for repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band could have on prospects for Capitol Hill to reach a deal on a spectrum legislative package that allocates some future auction revenue to pay for telecom projects. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., cited the study’s release as a reason to object to efforts to renew the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for a period ending before Sept. 30, which led to the mandate’s March expiration (see 2303090074).

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez, teeing up likely floor votes leading to her confirmation during the first full week of September. That means movement on Gomez and the resulting shift to a 3-2 Democratic FCC majority will be slower than her supporters wanted but provides a clear timeline for the changeover to take place, officials and observers told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others filed a cloture petition on Gomez earlier this month in hopes Schumer would hold floor votes on the nominee before Congress left for the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071).

The Senate Commerce Committee easily advanced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (S-1669) Thursday, but the measure still faces hurdles to enactment, especially in the House. Congress was on track to not act on two other communications policy matters seen as potentially ripe for action before lawmakers were expected to depart Thursday night for the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071): a push for Senate confirmation of Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez and House consideration of the Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565).