Jimm Phillips

President Joe Biden proposed substantial budget increases Friday for the FCC and FTC for FY 2022, in documents released Friday afternoon.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday she’s eyeing a mid-June markup of the committee’s portion of an infrastructure legislative package, as Republicans and the White House talk about possible compromise. Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other GOP leaders unveiled a revised counteroffer Thursday standing pat on $65 billion for broadband, as expected (see 2105250002).

The Commerce Department’s plan for implementing the pending U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) was one of the few tech and telecom policy matters that drew Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee members’ attention during a Wednesday hearing on President Joe Biden’s proposed FY 2022 Commerce Department budget. The administration in April proposed Commerce get $11.4 billion, up almost 28% from FY 2021 (see 2104090041). The administration is expected to release its full budget proposal Friday. Commerce is “hard at work putting together” its plans for implementing S-1260 if it’s enacted, Raimondo told Senate Appropriations Commerce Chairwoman Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.: The measure would mean further expansion of Commerce’s scope on semiconductor and open radio access network matters, and the department has “expertise” in expanding to meet its mission. S-1260, previously known as the Endless Frontier Act, includes $52 billion to boost U.S. chipmaking and $1.5 billion to implement the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecom Act. The semiconductor money includes $49.5 billion to implement the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act (see 2105210056). The Senate was expected to continue considering amendments to S-1260 into Thursday, before a potential final vote that day on the measure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday “there’s no reason we can’t finish this bill by the end of the week. That’s my intention.” Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., noted his desire for S-1260 to direct Commerce to enter into a National Academies of Science contract to provide updates on emerging tech, saying the U.S. “got caught behind on 5G.” Senate Appropriations Commerce ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kan., raised concerns about the department’s cybersecurity “shortcomings” given it was a federal agency affected by the Russia-linked SolarWinds hack (see 2012170050). He believes the budget needs to make the department’s “role in closing the digital divide” a priority given the increased importance of telework and remote learning during the pandemic. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., noted his concerns about the entire federal government’s “disjointed” cybersecurity apparatus.

Telecom-focused Democratic senators demurred Monday and Tuesday from criticizing President Joe Biden for offering to substantially reduce the proposed broadband spending request in his infrastructure counteroffer to Republicans (see 2105210056). They insisted in interviews that Biden’s revised plan, which lowered the proposed broadband money from $100 billion to $65 billion to align with an April GOP framework (see 2104220067), won’t hamstring efforts to enact an infrastructure package that contains a larger amount of connectivity funding via budget reconciliation if talks with Republicans collapse. Lobbyists and others we spoke with believe Biden’s shift doesn’t mean a higher figure won’t ultimately pass.

Vice President Kamala Harris and other White House officials remained hopeful Monday that a bipartisan deal on broadband and other infrastructure spending is possible, despite Senate Republicans’ negative reception for President Joe Biden’s latest revisions. The administration briefed Senate Republicans Friday on a revised proposal that lowered broadband spending from $100 billion to $65 billion to mirror an April GOP counteroffer (see 2105210056). During a Monday virtual White House event, Harris touted the plan's highlights.

The Biden administration said Thursday it expects deliberations over how to respond to Senate Republicans’ infrastructure counteroffer to continue into Friday, amid conflicting evaluations about prospects for a deal (see 2105190069). House Commerce Committee Republicans bowed the American Broadband Act to counter President Joe Biden’s proposal to spend $100 billion on broadband. The counterproposal includes $65 billion. More than 40 groups and companies launched the Broadband Equity for All coalition to press lawmakers to create a permanent federal broadband benefit program to succeed the FCC-administered $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program.

Senate Republicans are eyeing agreeing to more broadband money in an infrastructure deal, and issues remain unresolved, Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi told us. He was among GOP legislators who met Tuesday with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on a GOP counterproposal to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, which includes $100 billion for broadband (see 2103310064). “We’re looking at” increasing the broadband spending Republicans agree to, Wicker told us. He suggested add-ons could include additional money to “speed up” FCC rollout of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money and to “speed up” fixing its broadband coverage data maps. He’s “listening but skeptical of the administration’s position about going through NTIA” to distribute additional broadband money allocated here. Much “hasn’t been fully negotiated,” Wicker said. He and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said they were encouraged by the meeting and believe they’re getting closer to an agreement with the administration. The Republicans’ original counteroffer allocated $65 billion for broadband (see 2105180070). Buttigieg and Raimondo are “digesting what we proposed, and I think the plan is for them to react to that” soon, Capito told reporters. The White House expects to “follow up with” the Republicans “later this week,” a spokesperson said. The Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility (E-Bridge) Act, which Capito and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., refiled Wednesday, would remove regulatory barriers to Economic Development Administration grants for broadband deployments in a way that would allow localities to partner with the private sector (see 2005070055).

Telecom-focused Democratic lawmakers told us they remain hopeful broadband money in a final deal on infrastructure hews closer to the $100 billion they and President Joe Biden propose (see 2103310064) than the $65 billion Senate Republicans seek. Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other Republicans remained mum on how much they planned to increase their ask in an updated counteroffer they were to have presented to administration officials Tuesday (see 2105170067).

Congressional aides and FCC officials emphasized appetite for bipartisan telecom cooperation, at a Friday FCBA event. Aides to the House and Senate Commerce committees noted lawmakers' work to reach a compromise on infrastructure spending including broadband. FCC members’ chiefs of staff said commissioners learned to work together amid the 2-2 split.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other GOP senators who met Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their dueling infrastructure proposals indicated afterward there was progress. Biden’s proposal would allocate $100 billion for broadband, while Republicans’ counterproposal includes $65 billion for connectivity (see 2104220067). “We'll see if we can work out some … compromise on infrastructure,” Biden told reporters at the start of the meeting. “And I know” the Republicans are “sincere about it, so am I.” Biden asked the Republicans to “come back with another” counteroffer next week “with more granularity to it” than the initial proposal they released last month, said Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. She said the counterproposal could include more money. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California told reporters Wednesday that chamber’s GOP caucus intends to release its own counterproposal of less than $800 billion as soon as next week. Biden “left a lot of room for us to negotiate,” Capito said. “I made it clear that this was not a stagnant offer from us” and “he made it clear that he’s sincere in wanting to pursue this. And in the end, we agreed that if it doesn’t work, we’ll walk away friends.” Wicker said “we’re getting somewhere” in discussions, including a robust discussion about using public-private partnerships as a way to pay for infrastructure spending. “We should know before Memorial Day whether there’s a deal to be had or not,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri. “If I was the White House, I wouldn’t want to go much beyond Memorial Day unless I thought we were down to the final details. But two weeks is a long time if you want to make something happen.”