Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is hoping for a Wednesday vote on confirmation of Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC (see 2205050050), she told us Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture on the nomination Monday, and it will ripen Wednesday. “I would hope” for a vote Wednesday, Cantwell said. “I think everybody’s here. I think everybody’s back in town. Every day, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.” The Bedoya vote has been delayed for weeks due to repeated COVID-19-related absences in the Democratic caucus. Schumer originally filed cloture in April before withdrawing the motion.

President Joe Biden “may be endangering vulnerable Senate Democrats by continuing to push” for the chamber to confirm FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, the Wall Street Journal editorial board said Monday. Sohn’s confirmation process has stalled while three Senate Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remain undecided whether to back the nominee (see 2205050050). The WSJ editorial board, which has repeatedly opposed Sohn, said “her seeming animus to cops” is a primary motivator for the Democrats who are “reluctant to back her” given the Fraternal Order of Police’s criticisms of the nominee (see 2201040071). FOP cited Sohn’s role as a board member for the Electronic Frontier Foundation due to that group’s backing of end-to-end encryption and “user-only access,” plus social media posts seen as critical of the police. “Business groups haven’t come out as strongly against Ms. Sohn as they have some other nominees,” WSJ said. “Perhaps broadcasters and broadband providers are resigned to more aggressive regulation once a third Democrat joins the FCC.” Still, “the White House is putting the three wavering Democratic Senators in a political bind,” the editorial board said. Biden “would do his own party a favor by withdrawing Ms. Sohn’s nomination. But if he doesn’t, Senators can do the country a favor by defeating her.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will lead a Thursday meeting kicking off the conference committee for the China package (see 2205050025), her office announced Tuesday. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 325 Russell. Committee members will be able to discuss conference priorities during the meeting. House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, will lead the House delegation.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., filed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Modernization Act Tuesday in a bid to update the 2010 Calm Act's bar on excessively loud TV ads. The FCC Media Bureau sought comment last year in docket 21-181 on whether the FCC needs to update its existing Calm Act implementation rules at Eshoo's behest (see 2104200001). The Calm Modernization Act would extend the 2010 law's excessively loud ad bar to streaming services and would strengthen the FCC's ability to investigate and enforce violations. The measure would require a study analyzing the existing law's effectiveness in moderating ad loudness. Since the original law's enactment "streaming services have recreated the problem of loud ads because the old law doesn’t apply to them, and consumers continue to complain about loud ads on broadcast, cable, and satellite TV," Eshoo said. "Today, we’re updating the legislation for the benefit of consumers who are tired of diving for the mute button at every commercial break." Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., signed as co-sponsors. Eshoo's office cited support from Consumer Reports.

House Commerce Committee leaders wrote President Joe Biden Monday in support of U.S.-backed ITU secretary-general candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin. Her prospects of winning against Russian nominee Rashid Ismailov during the ITU’s September plenipotentiary conference have improved amid international criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (see 2203020068). Bogdan-Martin in her current role as ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau director “has focused on closing the digital divide, school connectivity, and developing digital skills and cyber safety,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and leaders of the Communications Subcommittee in a letter to Biden. “Further, Ms. Bogdan-Martin has excelled in forming new partnerships between the ITU and the private sector, thereby bringing more resources to the ITU’s important development efforts.” The lawmakers noted concerns about Ismailov’s candidacy because he’s “Russia’s former Deputy Minister for Communications and Mass Media and a former Huawei executive. Russian citizenship in and of itself is not of concern, but former participation in" Russian President Vladimir Putin's "regime is alarming. Russia’s disregard for international law as evidenced by its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the country’s continued support of cyber criminals, should make it clear to all ITU Member States that Russia’s preferred candidate is unworthy of a position demanding international cooperation and consensus building.”

The House Homeland Security Committee will conduct “rigorous” oversight of the Department of Homeland Security’s disinformation board, committee Republicans wrote Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday (see 2205040061 and 2205050056). “Your recent testimony and media statements regarding the board, as well as a recent briefing for Committee staff, have only created more questions and concern,” said the letter led by ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y. “This Committee will carry out rigorous oversight of this board.” He noted committee members can obtain information from the Homeland Security Advisory Council and other bodies: “There are standards that must be met for the sake of transparency.” DHS didn’t comment.

One Country Project defended founder and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., from criticisms Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., leveled at Heitkamp for opposing FCC nominee Gigi Sohn (see 2205050050). Sohn “made several public comments that call into question her commitment to rural communities, such as her testimony” during a 2020 House Communications Subcommittee hearing that “policymakers have focused disproportionately on broadband deployment in rural areas of” the U.S. (see 2001290052), One Country said Thursday in a statement. As Heitkamp “has stated, ‘Given the significant progress that has been made in closing the rural digital divide in recent years, and all the important work that remains to fully close the gap, Gigi Sohn’s deeply cynical view of rural broadband is far less than what rural Americans need or deserve,’” One Country said. Heitkamp first criticized Sohn in March just before Senate Commerce tied 14-14 on advancing the nominee to the floor (see 2203030070).

Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Blake Moore, R-Utah, filed the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act Friday in a bid to encourage U.S. printed circuit board manufacturing alongside current efforts to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry. Congressional conferees are working to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), which both include $52 billion in chip incentives (see 2205050025). The Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act would create a $3 billion Commerce Department-administered financial assistance program modeled after that in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act for U.S.-based facilities making or researching PCBs. The measure would also provide a 25% tax credit for the purchase or acquisition of U.S.-made PCBs. PCBs “are a critical part of that supply chain and are at risk of tampering vulnerabilities related to offshore production, yet the U.S. global production share of PCBs is only approximately four percent, compared to China’s 52 percent,” Eshoo said. “If we want to ensure technological superiority across the global stage and strengthen national security, we need to bring PCB production back to America, which is exactly what my bipartisan bill does.”

The Senate voted 78-17 Wednesday to reject a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to eliminate $10 billion for NASA’s lunar exploration program, Artemis, from Congress’ China package (see 2204010045). The Senate did a series of votes on nonbinding motions to instruct conferees as the two chambers move to conference on the China package. Sanders is seeking to cut funding that might go to Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos (see 2203290018). The Senate cleared by voice vote two motions -- from Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. -- aimed at maintaining language to strengthen U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. HR-4521 and S-1260 both include $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing (see 2201260062). The chamber also approved by voice language from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., seeking inclusion of a provision directing the White House Office of Management and Budget to "develop guidance for executive agencies requiring adequate security measures for any transfer, storage or use of digital yuan," China's currency, "on information technology."

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up on Wednesday a Democratic bill that would restore the FTC’s Section 13(b) authority to seek equitable monetary relief, as expected (see 2205030056). The Consumer Protection Remedies Act (S-4145), led by Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the 13(b) authority, which the Supreme Court stripped last year (see 2104220068). Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., signed on as cosponsors. Cantwell initially sought GOP support for the bill (see 2106210054) with committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Also on the agenda: the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable Contributions Act (S-2427) and the Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-3692). S-2427 would direct the FCC to study “the feasibility of funding Universal Service Fund through contributions supplied by edge providers” like Google-owned YouTube and Netflix (see 2107210067). S-3692 would require the FCC to determine as part of future Telecom Act Section 706 broadband deployment reports “whether a lack of network equipment significantly impacted the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability during the applicable year.” The markup will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.