Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella and Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association Senior Vice President Ann Wilson cited the need for President Joe Biden’s administration to revisit the FCC’s November vote to reallocate 5.9 GHz for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything (see 2011180043), at a Tuesday hearing. The issue itself barely factored into the Senate Commerce Surface Transportation Subcommittee hearing. Only Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., mentioned it. The auto industry “would have the opportunity to move forward right away” to deploy dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies if FCC reallocation were unspun and an industry-led sharing plan implemented, Bozzella said. The order “doesn’t respond to the interference questions that have been raised.” Wilson hoped for “efforts made to have the [FCC] reconsider” its decision, given implications for auto safety technologies. American Center for Mobility CEO Reuben Sarkar said the FCC decision makes DSRC “obsolete” and means cellular V2X technologies will need further upgrades. 5G technology “has the potential to bring order of magnitude faster speeds” and other benefits, but full capabilities are “still years away.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the Biden administration plans to examine ways to equitably address 5.9 GHz (see 2103250071).
The Senate Commerce Committee pulled the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260) from its planned Wednesday executive session (see 2104230076), a committee spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., viewed the recently refiled, $112 billion measure as a linchpin for a coming legislative package aimed at countering Chinese competition in tech R&D (see 2104210070). Commerce decided to pull S-1260 from its markup session after committee members filed more than 230 proposed amendments, aides said. The delay was needed to allow more time “for some consensus” to develop, Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters. A “pause was needed,” but that doesn’t reflect any real hesitations among senators, lead S-1260 GOP sponsor Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said during a Washington Post webcast Tuesday. “There are additional things they would like to add to this legislation or amend.” Reaching a bipartisan consensus often requires lawmakers to “crowd in as many good ideas as you can” to ensure “the best possible work product,” he said. “All of this will be aired” via the committee process. A Young spokesperson said it’s likely Commerce brings S-1260 back up for a vote after a one-week chamber recess, expected to end May 10. House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, opposed S-1260 in an Issues in Science and Technology opinion piece Tuesday, suggesting her National Science Foundation for the Future Act (HR-2225) as an alternative. She singled out S-1260’s proposal to create a Technology Directorate within NSF as a concern, saying “the goal should not be to wall the directorate off from the rest of NSF, but to make it a productive partner with rest of” NSF. “There is also a big risk in creating a ‘shiny new object’ that gets the attention of policymakers to the detriment of NSF’s fundamental research mission,” Johnson said. “I am particularly concerned by” S-1260’s “authorization of $100 billion over five years just for this new directorate, at an agency currently funded below $9 billion per year, without an overall authorization for NSF and its mission to advance fundamental research across all areas of science and engineering.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., also criticized S-1260 Tuesday. The bill, “which tries to beat the Chinese Communist Party at their own game of expansive government subsidies,” is “not how we will win the future,” she said. “I share the goal of increasing America’s global competitive edge, but creating new, duplicative multi-billion dollar programs is not the answer.”
The FCC corrected the docket to 21-181 for the Media Bureau notice seeking comment on whether it needs to update rules implementing the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act’s bar on excessively loud TV ads (see 2104200001).
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., refiled her Extending Tribal Broadband Priority Act Monday, to expand the priority window for tribes to apply for 2.5 GHz licenses. The measure, first filed last year (see 2010150046), would require the FCC open a new window for tribal applications for at least 180 days. The previous opportunity ended in September (see 2009030012), despite petitions seeking further extensions. “The FCC didn't sufficiently recognize the difficulties many tribal nations have faced,” Warren said.
The Commerce Department is focused on gaining support for President Joe Biden’s jobs plan, which includes increased funding for the semiconductor industry, Secretary Gina Raimondo said: The administration also is reviewing China policies. “We are right now undergoing a whole-of-government review,” Raimondo told Commerce’s Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. “It's fair to say there may be changes, but it's early for me to say what the changes might be.” Regardless of policy changes, she said Thursday, Commerce will look to hold China accountable for unfair trade actions. Legislators and others are watching how that affects Chinese telecom gearmakers (see 2104080006).
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up five tech and telecom bills Wednesday, including the just-refiled (see 2104210070) Endless Frontier Act (S-1260). The committee said it will also vote on NASA administrator nominee Bill Nelson and deputy commerce secretary nominee Don Graves. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 216 Hart. Also on the docket: the Protecting Seniors From Emergency Scams Act (S-15), Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act (S-163), Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (S-198) and Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act (S-326). S-15 and House companion HR-446 would require the FTC to report scams targeting seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic to Congress and make recommendations on how to prevent future scams during emergencies. S-163 and House companion HR-1032 would increase the 5G workforce by requiring the FCC to lead an interagency working group to develop recommendations to address the telecom sector’s labor needs (see 2102110063). S-198 and House companion HR-1218 would require the FCC to map areas that lack broadband connectivity and have poor maternal health (see 2007220081). S-326 would compel an FCC economic analysis of the effects of broadband deployment and adoption (see 1906060002).
Former NSA intelligence officer Jen Easterly’s nomination to be director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was sent to the Senate, the White House said Thursday (see 2104120059).
Ninety-eight entities opposed to the FCC's 2020 approval of Ligado’s L-band plan marked the one-year anniversary (see 2004200039) Thursday by urging President Joe Biden and congressional leaders to “work together with the FCC to stay and ultimately set aside” the order. The FCC isn't expected to reverse itself (see 2101290058). Ligado said in early April that federal agencies haven’t informed the company whether any of their GPS devices might need repair or replacement. “Although Ligado continues to attempt to convince policymakers that its proposed terrestrial service will not cause harmful interference and is somehow critical to American success in 5G, the executive branch and affected parties have repeatedly detailed the adverse economic, national security, and public safety impact of the proposed Ligado operations,” Iridium and other opponents said in letters to Biden and congressional leaders. The FCC "has made and affirmed its" unanimous decision, a Ligado spokesperson said. "Its decision was based on rigorous scientific analysis and thousands of pages of data. Rather than rehashing tired arguments and politics, we are focused on the future, which means working cooperatively with all stakeholders to implement the FCC’s order, developing 5G solutions and investing in U.S. digital infrastructure."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., led filing Wednesday of the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act in a bid to end a legal loophole that allows data brokers to sell Americans’ personal information to law enforcement and intelligence agencies without Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court oversight. The measure would require the government get a court order to compel data brokers to disclose data. It would bar law enforcement and intelligence agencies from buying data on people in the U.S. and about Americans abroad if the data was obtained from a user’s account or device or via deception, hacking or violations of a contract, privacy policy or terms of service. "The government should not be allowed to purchase its way around the rules Congress has enacted to protect the privacy of American citizens," Nadler said. "There is no end run around" the Fourth Amendment. "Doing business online doesn’t amount to giving the government permission to track your every movement or rifle through the most personal details,” Wyden said. “There’s no reason information scavenged by data brokers should be treated differently than the same data held by your phone company or email provider. This bill closes that legal loophole." Senate co-sponsors include Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky. House Administration Committee Chairperson Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., co-sponsored that chamber's version. The American Civil Liberties Union, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press, Mozilla, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge back the bill.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., are promoting their bill to guide government investments in advanced manufacturing or industrial research. Their new National Strategy to Ensure American Leadership Act would ask the National Academies to identify which technologies will be the critical ones in five to 10 years. Van Hollen discussed with reporters Monday U.S. export restrictions to hinder Huawei, which is a 5G infrastructure leader, while the U.S. doesn't make much 5G equipment. “Everything we can do to prevent the existing cutting-edge technologies being used by Chinese military or others” should be done, and for Huawei and ZTE, the U.S. is also justified because they stole U.S. companies' designs years ago, Van Hollen said. Blunt asked, “Why weren't we ahead of Huawei, competing at the same time that they were?” Of technologies that will be as important in 10 years as 5G is currently, he said, “How do we prevent from this happening again?”