Some House Democrats want the FCC to reserve spectrum for some carriers as part of the broadcast-TV incentive auction it plans in mid-2015. “A proposal to reserve a portion of the available licenses for carriers with limited nationwide low-frequency holdings will stimulate auction competition and revenues, ensuring opportunity to bid and win spectrum to enhance and extend rural build out and improve coverage in all areas, while guarding against excessive concentration of spectrum resources,” they told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter dated Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1l43BWs). Signers included Rep. Doris Matsui, Calif., the lead signature, along with Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, Calif., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, Calif. Others are House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, Mich.; Mike Doyle, Pa.; Zoe Lofgren, Calif.; Ben Ray Lujan, N.M.; Jared Polis, Colo.; Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, Wash.; and Peter Welch, Vt. In other recent letters from Capitol Hill to the FCC, 78 House Democrats pressured the agency to hold “an equal and fair” auction open to all bidders “on equal terms,” and every Republican on the House Communications Subcommittee demanded the agency not place restrictions on any auction bidders. The Competitive Carriers Association hailed Matsui’s letter: “We completely agree that reserving a portion of the 600 MHz spectrum after revenue targets have been satisfied is good for the wireless industry and the economy as a whole,” CEO Steve Berry said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1omJ1Wq). “Allowing the largest two national carriers to buy up all the spectrum would have devastating consequences.” The FCC, at its Thursday meeting, is expected to vote on an incentive auction item (CD May 12 p2).

The House Homeland Security Committee rescheduled a joint hearing by the Cybersecurity and Intelligence subcommittees on cyberthreats for May 21. The hearing was originally scheduled for last Thursday (CD May 6 p13). The hearing is to begin at 10 a.m. in 311 Cannon (http://1.usa.gov/Rm4gcX).

Wireless carrier consolidation “should concern us all” in Congress, Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, cautioned on the House floor Friday, saying he’s committed to competition and believes that drives innovation. “Safeguarding this competition and these jobs is our responsibility.” He said he found Sprint’s actions in the past year since being acquired by SoftBank “particularly troubling,” because Sprint laid off more than 2,700 call center workers, nearly 900 of whom resided in Texas. Green cited rumors that Sprint now may be seeking to acquire T-Mobile. “Congress must take a careful and critical look at this deal if and when it’s announced and stand up for what’s best for American consumers and American jobs,” Green said.

The House Intelligence Committee advanced the recently revised USA Freedom Act unanimously by voice vote, it said in a news release Thursday. That legislation would end the government’s bulk collection of metadata and make several changes to surveillance practice. Intelligence met in closed session Thursday to consider both the USA Freedom Act, HR-3361, and House Intelligence lawmakers’ own Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Transparency and Modernization Act (HR-4291). The House Judiciary Committee cleared the USA Freedom Act Wednesday (CD May 8 p9). The bill advances to the House floor. Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., plan on “working with the Judiciary Committee, House and Senate leadership, and the White House to address outstanding operational concerns and enact the USA Freedom Act into law this year,” they said in a joint statement. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., author of companion legislation in the Senate, praised the bill in a statement following its House Judiciary clearance Wednesday. But “I remain concerned that the legislation approved today does not include some of the important reforms related to national security letters, a strong special advocate at the FISA Court, and greater transparency,” Leahy said, saying Senate Judiciary will consider the bill this summer. In separate statements, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., lamented that the revised USA Freedom Act is narrower than some proposals have been but largely praised its clearance as a key step forward in ending bulk collection, as they have backed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee again postponed its markup of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) Thursday amid stakeholder perceptions that time is running out for the bill. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., did not mention S-1720 during a committee meeting Thursday, but in a statement said he’s “continuing work with other members of the committee to address constructive comments from both sides” on a compromise manager’s amendment to the bill. Leahy had planned to release the manager’s amendment in late April after what had been viewed as significant progress in negotiations over the recess (CD April 29 p6). Negotiations have since been bogged down over several controversial provisions, an industry lobbyist said. The committee will need to act on S-1720 soon to get it through the full Senate, the lobbyist said, saying there’s a limited pre-summer window to get legislation through before the midterm election campaign slows further action. CEA criticized the committee’s latest delay Thursday, with Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Michael Petricone saying in a statement that “every week the committee waits to take action, patent trolls siphon off another $1.5 billion from the U.S. economy.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., railed against government surveillance. The Supreme Court last looked at such issues of privacy back in the 1970s era of “dial-up phones,” he said Wednesday night during a Google Hangout hosted by Generation Opportunity, a libertarian-leaning organization focused on young voters. Paul lamented “generalized” warrants: “The warrant has to be specific to the person.” He said the issue must go to the Supreme Court, although it’s unclear whether privacy advocates would win. In Congress, the right and left have come together to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in significant ways, Paul said, saying “young people are more interested in this,” given how connected to technology they are. “Metadata is important,” he said, stressing a need to avoid metadata collection by the government. Paul doesn’t consider the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to be a “real” court given it’s not open: “You can’t have justice without a lawyer."

USTelecom responded favorably to lawmakers’ push this week (CD May 7 p2) for the FCC to expand USF support beyond the provision of voice. “Updating the Connect America Fund to encourage broadband investment by rate-of-return carriers will spur economic activity and benefit consumers,” said Vice President-Policy David Cohen in a written statement Wednesday. “A rational and predictable high-cost mechanism that includes support for broadband-only lines will enable carriers to continue to provide rural Americans with affordable high-quality communications services.” Two letters to the FCC urging an expansion were signed by 133 senators and congressmen.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., again slammed the FCC’s proposal on new net neutrality rules, this time in a video released Wednesday as part of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s NoSlowLane.com. He elaborated on the principle of net neutrality in the video, just under three minutes long. “Now net neutrality is under threat as it never has been,” Franken said. “We have to win this.” The FCC is taking up this net neutrality item at its May 15 meeting.

Legislation released Wednesday would deny the right to retransmission consent to a TV station or AM/FM radio station unless it agrees to provide compensation for transmitting a sound recording, said a news release from Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (http://1.usa.gov/1o7N091). The bill, the Protecting the Rights of Musicians Act (HR-4588) (http://1.usa.gov/1isK0fG), is co-sponsored by Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Blackburn, vice chairwoman of the House Commerce Committee.

Some witnesses plan to air grievances about Comcast’s proposed buy of Time Warner Cable during Thursday’s House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. “ACA is most concerned about the competitive effects of the proposed Comcast-TWC transaction in two intertwined industries -- the (downstream) MVPD industry, which distributes video programming to consumers, and the (upstream) video programming industry, which provides this programming to these distributors,” American Cable Association President Matthew Polka will say, according to written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1j3bCrL). “Comcast is a behemoth in both industries.” The hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. The FCC and Justice Department must approve the cable company deal, and these regulators must not “ignore or treat lightly the potential harms or provide inadequate relief” of the deal, Polka will say. Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer will slam the deal quite strongly, arguing it will hurt consumers and stifle innovation and criticizing the paid peering deals Comcast is seeking: “Fundamentally, Comcast’s strategy is to get everyone to pay them, either through paid peering with content providers like Netflix, paid peering with backbone providers like Cogent, or both,” Schaeffer will say (http://1.usa.gov/1kMpKY3). Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen and Time Warner Cable CEO Robert Marcus will also testify, defending the deal, and will submit a joint written testimony spanning more than 100 pages. The deal would yield “better broadband, video, and voice services for millions of additional consumers, while enabling the combined company to upgrade its broadband network, expand last-mile services, and increase Wi-Fi availability,” they said (http://1.usa.gov/1fUMau8). “It will make Comcast a more viable competitor for advanced business services, especially for the underserved small and medium-sized business segments, but also for regional, super-regional, and national enterprise customers.”