Congress should make Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services permanent, said House Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., during a hearing Tuesday. She cited the benefit of such waivers signed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the pandemic. Expansion should continue but can’t replace all in-person visits, said ranking member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. He noted broadband is a limiting factor, and he will work to address infrastructure limitations. Telehealth has been important for rural communities, said House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. She's especially interested in telehealth advantages for mental health services, given the rise in anxiety and suicide during the pandemic. First consider a number of items, said Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone, D-N.J.: the value of telehealth care, ways to strengthen program integrity, and methods to ensure equitable access to telehealth. Utilization data can help ensure underserved populations have access, he said. Permanent repeal of rural and site exclusions would give certainty, testified American Medical Association board member Jack Resneck. Stanford Health Care Chief of Staff Megan Mahoney agreed, supporting anything that expands access to care and removes geographic barriers. Research is needed on effectiveness and outcomes, said Purchaser Business Group on Health CEO Elizabeth Mitchell: Telehealth isn't necessarily duplicative but supplementary to in-person care. Some telemedicine offerings are more cost-effective than others, and services should be expanded there, said Ateev Mehrotra, Harvard Medical School associate professor-health care policy.

Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., filed legislation Friday to bar the FCC from “repromulgating” the fairness doctrine (HR-1409). Duncan was one of several Republican lawmakers who wrote acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week asking she “publicly express your opposition to reinstating the Fairness Doctrine immediately” (see 2102240064). Four Republicans are co-sponsors: Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

Investigate Prodigy Education for violations of FTC Act Section 5, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., wrote the FTC Friday. They alleged Prodigy is “misleadingly marketing its product as free, manipulating children and families into making purchases, and publishing unsupported claims about its product's educational benefits.” The FTC confirmed it received the letter. The company didn’t comment.

The House Rules Committee was meeting Friday afternoon to consider amendments and set up a floor schedule for the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319), which includes $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning (see 2102100061). Three proposed amendments deal with telecom issues, though only one would seek to modify HR-1319’s E-rate funding language. House Rules ranking member Tom Cole of Oklahoma and other Republicans continued to oppose the measure. House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., highlighted E-rate during the hearing as part of “assistance for struggling families.” The funding is needed to “expand internet connectivity to help students and teachers without home internet service,” Pallone said. Republicans “are serious about working on a timely, targeted” pandemic relief package, but Commerce’s part of HR-1319 doesn’t measure up, said committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington. She complained that Commerce didn’t consider its proposals “through regular order” and that Democrats voted down GOP amendments (see 2102120066). One committee-level proposal would have restricted E-rate to schools and libraries that have fully reopened. Another would have redirected the money to an NTIA pilot to fund “covered partnerships” for broadband projects. House Commerce Committee member Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., proposed an amendment to require the FCC to “establish a priority system that prioritizes” E-rate for schools and libraries in unserved and rural areas. A proposal led by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., would allocate $800 million for USDA broadband programs; $300 million would go to the distance learning and telemedicine program. The Broadband Access Loan program would also get $300 million. The Community Connect and Middle Mile programs would each get $100 million. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, sought an amendment to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance to “clarify strategies to overcome existing barriers and increase access to telehealth under the Medicaid program.”

Senate Commerce members unanimously voted Thursday to approve Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., as Communications chair (see 2102190056) and Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., as ranking member. The committee announced Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the subcommittee’s lead Democrat in the last Congress, relinquished the seat in favor of other leadership roles (see 2101290049). The panel also approved Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., as chair of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., as ranking member.

House Commerce Committee member Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., proposed an amendment to the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319) that allocates $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning (see 2102100061). It would require the FCC “establish a priority system that prioritizes” the funding for schools and libraries in unserved and rural areas. The House Rules Committee is expected to consider Pence’s amendment and other proposals during a Friday meeting to set floor consideration rules for the package. Pence and other House Commerce Republicans voted against the E-rate money when the committee advanced its portion of HR-1319 earlier this month (see 2102120066).

Consider including ISPs "in measures to address the chip shortage, support initiatives that will expand domestic innovation and investment in semiconductor development and manufacturing facilities for all industries and ensure coordination across government and with industry partners on supply chain matters,” four ISP groups urged President Joe Biden Thursday. Biden signed an executive order Wednesday, as expected (see 2102240065), that directs agencies do a 100-day comprehensive review of U.S. supply chains for semiconductors and three other products. It directs the Commerce Department to do a one-year review of the U.S. supply chain for information and communications technology. “Take a whole-of-government approach” in its review of U.S. supply chain issues “and leverage existing public-private partnerships addressing specific supply chain risks,” ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom wrote Biden. “Work with Congress to fully fund” the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act. The measure passed in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2101030002).

The Senate plans a Monday vote to invoke cloture on commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo. The chamber is likely to vote in favor of cloture, despite some Republicans’ concerns that Raimondo didn’t unequivocally rule out rolling back restrictions on Huawei and other Chinese telecom and tech firms. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, placed a hold on Raimondo over the issue (see 2102050064), which remained in place as of Thursday, his office said. The cloture vote is to happen immediately after a 5:30 p.m. vote to confirm Miguel Cardona as education secretary. A successful cloture vote would set the chamber up to confirm Raimondo next week.

Amazon defended its cooperation in the SolarWinds breach investigation, in response to a question about the platform declining to testify at Wednesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing (see 2102230064). “When we learned of this event, we immediately investigated, ensured we weren’t affected, and shared what we learned with law enforcement,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve also provided detailed briefings to government officials, including Members of Congress.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Tuesday that he plans to lead Democrats in bowing legislation aimed at using investment in 5G and other emerging technologies to counter Chinese advances. Senate Democrats’ emerging tech package needs to “address America’s short-term and long-term plans to protect the semiconductor supply chain, and to keep us No. 1 in things like [artificial intelligence], 5G, quantum computing” and data storage, Schumer told a news conference. “We can’t let China get ahead of us in chip production.” Schumer expects the Senate to be ready to consider the measure on the floor this spring. “We need to get a bill like this to” President Joe Biden’s “desk quickly to protect America’s long-term economic and national security,” he said. The Semiconductor Industry Association praised Schumer’s plan. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing about China’s “aggressive attempts to undercut our current technological superiority.” Lawmakers “must also be concerned about the strength of our national research and innovation enterprise, including the workforce, the health of the manufacturing and industrial base, and the infrastructure that we need to support technology development,” he said.