Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday he plans to ask Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about his dissent in the D.C. Circuit's 2017 en banc affirmation of the FCC's 2015 net neutrality rules in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063, during his confirmation hearing (see 1705010038). Blumenthal is one of five Commerce Committee members who also sit on the Judiciary Committee, which will begin hearings on Kavanaugh Sept. 4. Three other lawmakers -- Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. -- also said during a conference call with Blumenthal and reporters they oppose Senate confirmation of Kavanaugh because of his views on net neutrality.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., urged the Rural Utilities Service not to overbuild existing FCC-funded broadband deployments as it allocates funds from the $600 million e-Connectivity Pilot program. It was created in the FY 2019 omnibus spending bill (see 1803210041). RUS is seeking comment by Sept. 10 on the program to target communities where at least 90 percent of households lack access at least 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream (see 1807260053). Senate Republicans are also eyeing the process for reconciling the House- and Senate-passed farm bills (see 1807160064) to curb RUS overbuilding, a Hill GOP official said. “We know you are working to correct these past shortcomings,” but “we strongly urge you to take the necessary steps to avoid the failures of the past Administration,” Thune and Wicker wrote Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. The senators cited a 2009 GAO report that RUS faced challenges (see 0911170137). “It is crucial that RUS plan projects and coordinate the distribution of funds under the pilot program with the FCC, to ensure that the pilot program does not result in overbuilding in covered by current and planned [Connect America Fund] deployments,” Thune and Wicker said: NTIA "has been charged with updating” broadband coverage maps “and will be another critical resource.”
Senate Commerce Committee leadership plans to file online privacy legislation after holding a hearing in September with social media platforms, Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Thursday. Committee staffers are “looking at some potential ideas when it comes to a legislative path,” but before the senators file a bill, “we want to make sure we hear from all … stakeholders,” Thune said. He noted bills that take slightly different paths, “but if we do something, we want to do something that's not just cosmetic, that actually gets at the heart of the issue. Sometimes, it's hard to know exactly what the best way to do that is, but we've got some good ideas in the mix.” Senate Commerce has been in discussions with Twitter about a potential appearance, said a committee aide. The aide didn't offer any details on other potential platforms that may appear before the committee. Senate Commerce is aiming to hold the hearing in late September, the aide said. Facebook, Twitter and Google are scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Sept. 5 (see 1808210057).
A pre-Labor Day nominations package that would confirm FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr's full five-year term ending in 2023 under unanimous consent is still possible, though much depends on the outcome of ongoing negotiations, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Thursday. The Senate recessed Thursday night without a deal following negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about a nominations package aimed at allowing the chamber to recess for the remainder of August. McConnell vowed earlier Thursday the Senate would “continue to work right through” the rest of the month to confirm a slate of at least 16 of Trump's nominees over Democrats' resistance absent a deal. Thune said he is talking with Schumer and others about getting the two FCC nominees and others under Senate Commerce's jurisdiction included in the package, too, but “at the moment, we don't have a deal yet.” Thune has been hopeful Senate leaders would agree to confirm Carr and Starks under unanimous consent before two previous recesses this summer, but progress on a nominations package has been elusive (see 1807310065). Senate leaders at the last minute scotched a bid to clear the FCC nominees before July 4 (see 1806290037).
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director nominee Kelvin Droegemeier outlined his vision for the office to maintain a leadership role on spectrum policy, cybersecurity and emerging tech issues during President Donald Trump's administration. He said during a Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing he aims to ensure “continued American leadership in science and technology.” Members' questioned Droegemeier on OSTP's future role in the administration, as expected (see 1808220036). Most of the interest was on the office's function in science policymaking.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director nominee Kelvin Droegemeier is likely to face questions during a Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on how he thinks the office can shape tech policymaking in President Donald Trump's administration, lawmakers and tech sector officials said in interviews. Officials are optimistic OSTP can still be influential in policymaking despite misgivings about the amount of time it took Trump to staff it (see 1704210055 and 1801180055). Trump nominated Droegemeier, vice president-research and professor of meteorology at University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma cabinet secretary of science and technology, earlier this month, more than a year and a half after John Holdren stepped down at the end of President Barack Obama's administration.
White House Counsel Don McGahn phoned FCC Chairman Ajit Pai shortly after the chairman announced a hearing designation order in review of Sinclair's doomed deal to buy Tribune Media, Pai said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday. Sinclair faces a $1 billion breach of contract lawsuit from Tribune (see 1807160048 and 1808090042).
Pointed questions on contested claims a May 2017 a distributed denial-of-service attack cause a breakdown of the electronic comment filing system and the recently aborted Sinclair buy of Tribune appear likely to be a major feature of the Senate Commerce Committee's Thursday FCC oversight hearing, communications lawyers and lobbyists said in interviews. The panel is expected to echo themes of the House Communications Subcommittee's July FCC hearing (see 1807250043), including a focus on 5G deployments and upcoming spectrum auctions. Chairman Ajit Pai and the other three commissioners are expected to testify (see 1808030014).
The recently filed Eliminate From Regulators Opportunities to Nationalize The Internet in Every Respect (E-Frontier) Act is unlikely to become law but is again raising questions about why President Donald Trump's administration hasn't definitively said whether it will pursue a proposal for the U.S. to build a national 5G network, lawmakers and communications sector officials told us. S-3255, filed in late July, would formally bar the White House and executive branch agencies from seeking to build a government-owned national 5G network without authorization from Congress (see 1807230059). A leaked National Security Council draft memo proposed 5G nationalization because of concerns China could otherwise build a network.
Sinclair Executive Chairman David Smith met Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., within 24 hours of President Donald Trump's tweet last week criticizing the FCC decision to issue a hearing designation order on Sinclair's proposed purchase of Tribune, Thune told reporters Wednesday. Trump's tweet angered Democratic lawmakers but is considered unlikely to influence FCC policy (see 1807250057). “Obviously, they aren't happy with the outcome they got from the FCC, but it is what it is,” Thune said. Smith wasn't asking Senate Commerce Republicans to intervene on Sinclair's behalf but “was more just expressing their displeasure with how the process worked,” the senator said. Smith also was planning to meet with some House members about his concerns with FCC handling of Sinclair/Tribune, Thune said. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., is collecting signatures on a letter to be sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asking him to reconsider the HDO, which Harris called a “de facto death sentence.” Sinclair didn't comment.