Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Telecom Act with a Twitter chat about the law's impact and an online video featuring legislators and former commissioners. In the video, Rosenworcel credited the act with paving the way for the modern use of the internet and said it should guide how to modify communications policy, “because access to modern communications for everyone everywhere has never been more important for full participation in American life.” “It’s a fine old act,” sang former Commissioner Rachelle Chong on the video as she performed a song she composed for the occasion. “We have to move with urgency” to restore net neutrality, combat consolidation and focus on inclusion and equity, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “We need to debate and discuss bipartisan reforms,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., supporting universal broadband. Former Commissioner Susan Ness said the FCC has become more divided since the act passed. In a separate video for the Hudson Institute, former Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Harold Furchtgott-Roth -- both ex-congressional staffers who worked on the measure -- said they were surprised how portions of it are interpreted. Furchtgott-Roth believed at the time of the act’s passing that media ownership rules would be gone within two years: “I think that was the intention of Congress at the time.” O’Rielly decried the use of the preamble as a justification for FCC policies. Furchtgott-Roth said he drafted the preamble, which says the act exists “to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services.” The preamble wasn’t meant to be substantive, the former commissioner said: “It was supposed to be completely worthless.” In a Twitter chat with Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., Rosenworcel said the timing of the '96 law "was no coincidence." Consumers "enjoyed waves of new products and services, and U.S. innovators set the pace globally for the emerging internet economy," she tweeted. A key program established under the law was E-rate, but many students still lack internet access and visit in parking lots to do homework, Rosenworcel said. It's an issue close to the heart for Hayes, 2016's Teacher of the Year. "Millions of kids across this country … can not do their homework or participate in class" during the pandemic because they can't get online, Hayes tweeted. The commission sought comments last week on whether to allow E-rate funds for remote learning (see 2102010064).

Customizable alerts for committee profile page changes are now available on Congress.gov, the Library of Congress blogged Friday. The alerts cover such actions as measures or communications being referred to the committee, hearings and published reports, it said.

The House Commerce Committee should hold a hearing with Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter CEOs, Republican committee leaders wrote Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Wash.; Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, Ohio; Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Gus Bilirakis, Fla.; and Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Morgan Griffith, Va., cited transparency, accountability, consistency and competition. “Last Congress, we requested you hold a hearing with several Big Tech CEOs to get answers and push them to improve their practices,” they wrote Friday. “Unfortunately, Big Tech’s behavior has increasingly worsened.” Pallone’s office didn’t comment.

Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will have leadership posts on House Judiciary Committee subcommittees in 2021, Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., announced Friday, releasing the full roster for this Congress (see 2102030057). Buck will be ranking member of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, and Issa will lead Republicans on the Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Issa is a former CTA chairman.

Three Senate Democrats introduced expected legislation Friday (see 2102030060) to weaken Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity, so victims of discrimination, harassment, cyber-stalking and other behavior could sue online platforms. Introduced by Mark Warner, Va.; Mazie Hirono, Hawaii; and Amy Klobuchar, Minn.; the Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism and Consumer Harms (Safe Tech) Act would let consumers seek court orders “where misuse of a provider’s services is likely to cause irreparable harm” and hold platforms “accountable when they directly enable harmful activity.” Users could sue platforms when they directly contribute to loss of life. “Section 230 has provided a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card to the largest platform companies even as their sites are used by scam artists, harassers and violent extremists,” said Warner. The bill will hold platforms “accountable for harmful, often criminal behavior enabled by their platforms to which they have turned a blind eye for too long.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., opposed the bill, saying it would effectively repeal the law he co-authored: “Creating liability for all commercial relationships would cause web hosts, cloud storage providers and even paid email services to purge their networks of any controversial speech.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Congress to be “mindful of the impact of changes in our antitrust laws and to focus on ensuring federal antitrust agencies have the resources to do their job consistent with the law.” Changing merger review legal standards, relying on fines over remedies and expanding private litigation “will not make America’s economy more vibrant and will have far-reaching implications impacting virtually every sector of our economy,” said Executive Vice President Neil Bradley.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., refiled her Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act Thursday. The bill, first filed in the last Congress (see 2007220081), would require the FCC to map areas that lack broadband connectivity and have poor maternal health. The measure will help "utilize technology and data to lay the groundwork for increasing access to broadband and telemedicine and improving health outcomes for Nevada mothers," Rosen said.

Democratic lawmakers reintroduced legislation Thursday that would direct $5 billion for investigations and resources related to online child abuse (see 2005060015). Sens. Ron Wyden, Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, N.Y.; Mazie Hirono, Hawaii; and Sherrod Brown, Ohio; Rep. Anna Eshoo, Calif., reintroduced the Invest in Child Safety Act (S-3629). The bill will “reverse a decade of underfunding key enforcement and prevention efforts,” the group said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced legislation Thursday to let antitrust enforcers impose larger fines and shift the burden of proof from government to “merging companies.” The top Antitrust Committee Democrat, Klobuchar said the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act “is the first step to overhauling and modernizing our laws so we can effectively promote competition.” The bill would create an FTC division to do market studies and merger retrospectives. Competition law violations would be subject to DOJ and FTC fines of up to 15% of a company’s annual revenue, instead of capped at $100 million. For certain types of deals, the bill “shifts the legal burden from the government to the merging companies, which would have to prove that their mergers do not create an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition or tend to create a monopoly or monopsony.” The bill has the support of Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz of Hawaii. The plan would grant enforcers the “ability to issue civil fines against companies and eliminate the need to define the market a company is competing in when charging them with abusing market power,” said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. President Matt Schruers said CCIA shares Klobuchar’s “goal of ensuring that antitrust enforcers are adequately resourced to protect consumers.” Public Knowledge Competition Policy Director Charlotte Slaiman called the bill a “turbocharge” for antitrust enforcement. Public Citizen said this “would severely limit harmful mega-mergers, attempt to strengthen the powers of the" FTC and DOJ "and expand important whistleblower protections.”

Ed Markey of Massachusetts led a letter with 36 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus Thursday urging the FCC to "leverage the E-Rate program to begin providing connectivity and devices for remote learning." The agency seeks comment through Feb. 16 on such petitions (see 2102010064). “Use your new leadership of the FCC to depart from the … erroneous position" under then-Chairman Ajit Pai that existing statute didn't allow for this, the senators urged acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Others signing the letter included Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell of Washington and outgoing Communications Subcommittee lead Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii. "We welcome this valuable input," an FCC spokesperson said. "We share the same goal of closing the Homework Gap and getting every child the connectivity they need right now."

Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., will continue to chair the House Antitrust Subcommittee, and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., will continue to chair the Intellectual Property Subcommittee, announced House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Wednesday. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, will succeed Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., as chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee. The three new members for the Judiciary majority are Mondaire Jones of New York, Deborah Ross of North Carolina and Cori Bush of Missouri.