APCO urged its members Monday to send letters to lawmakers supporting the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act. HR-2351, which was refiled in April (see 2104130069), would change the federal government's classification of public safety call takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations.”

DOJ should provide input on legislation that would restore the FTC’s authority under FTC Act Section 13(b) (see 2104280028) before the House Commerce Committee votes, ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland Monday. They asked if DOJ interprets the new authorities to apply to antitrust cases, whether retroactive provisions are constitutional and if the FTC could revisit past settlements. Rodgers and Bilirakis endorsed the “spirit” of the legislation and have concerns about preserving due process. The department declined comment.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and three other Republican senators leading a counterproposal to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan are expected to meet Tuesday with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and White House aides to present an updated offer, as expected (see 2105130071). The other Republican senators are Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Mike Crapo of Idaho. The four were among Republicans who met with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week for infrastructure talks and have been working to refine their proposal. Biden proposed $100 billion for broadband, while Republicans earlier proposed $65 billion (see 2104220067).

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote Thursday on the nomination of Eric Lander for Office of Science and Technology Policy director (see 2104290060), the committee announced Friday. It meets in executive session at 10 a.m. EDT in 216 Hart.

The Senate confirmed Don Graves Thursday as deputy commerce secretary 89-7, drawing USTelecom praise. Graves during his March Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing cited the department’s broadband and spectrum policymaking roles as a priority (see 2103100065).

The Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee scheduled a hybrid hearing on kids’ data privacy for 10 a.m. Tuesday in 253 Russell. Witnesses: Institute for Public Representation co-Director Angela Campbell, University of California, Berkeley's International Computer Science Institute Research Director-Usable Security and Privacy Serge Egelman and 5Rights founder Beeban Kidron.

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.”

The Senate Homeland Security Committee passed legislation unanimously Wednesday to establish a Department of Homeland Security cyber response fund (see 2105110068). S-1316 would let DHS declare “significant” cyber incidents to use the $20 million over seven years.

Legislation introduced Tuesday would prohibit online platforms from collecting personal data from anyone ages 13-15 without user consent. Introduced by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, letting users delete personal information collected from kids and teens. It would establish such a digital marketing bill of rights.

President Joe Biden extended an emergency Tuesday, letting the Commerce Department bar transactions in the information and communications tech sector that are an unacceptable risk to national security. Former President Donald Trump implemented this in 2019 (see 1905150066). That executive order paved the way for recent FCC and Commerce actions to limit the U.S. presence of equipment from Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., meanwhile, pressed a trio of U.S. tech companies for information on their compliance with Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security’s August revisions to its restrictions on Huawei’s use of U.S. technology (see 2008170043). “The unrestricted acquisition or use in the United States of information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries augments the ability of these foreign adversaries to create and exploit vulnerabilities in information and communications technology or services,” Biden wrote Congress. “This threat continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat." Wicker asked Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital whether they consider the August BIS restrictions to bar “shipment of hard disk drives to Huawei or any affiliate without a license” and if the companies “continued shipping” gear to Huawei. He wants to know if the companies incorporate “semiconductor products” into their hard-disk drives “that the supplier knows or should know would then be incorporated into hard disk drives for subsequent shipment to Huawei.” The Semiconductors in America Coalition formed Tuesday in a bid to get Congress to fund implementation of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, which was included in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2105110065).