House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta and Rep. Bill Johnson, both Ohio Republicans, urged President Joe Biden Monday to “prioritize” naming an FCC inspector general nominee. David Hunt has been FCC IG since 2011, before Congress made the position Senate-confirmable via the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act. Then-President Donald Trump repeatedly nominated Covington & Burling’s Chase Johnson as FCC IG, but the Senate failed to approve him before the end of 2020 (see 2012210055). Biden subsequently revoked Trump’s 2021 renomination of Johnson (see 2102050064). “Since enactment, this position has been vacant,” Rodgers and the other GOP lawmakers wrote Biden. “While the law provides that the existing IG may continue to perform these functions until a nominee is confirmed by the Senate, it has been over a year and a half since you took office without nominating a candidate.” The IG office “issued an advisory” in November that found some emergency broadband benefit providers were falsely claiming a child in a household attended a qualifying low-income school (see 2111220058). “Given the unprecedented funding made available to the FCC in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the increased potential for waste, fraud, and abuse, we ask that you expedite the nomination of a candidate to serve as the FCC’s IG,” the lawmakers said.

Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., plan to file their Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act before the start of the Senate August recess in a bid to renew Democrats’ push for legislation to restore the FCC’s rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules. The measure, which was circulating in draft form Monday, would reinstate the FCC’s 2015 reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is leading work on a House companion, lobbyists told us. Markey and Wyden are prioritizing the bill now because of the Senate’s stalled confirmation process for FCC nominee Gigi Sohn (see 2206230066), which has meant the tied 2-2 commission hasn’t been able to proceed on any matter that's unlikely to get the support of at least one of the two GOP commissioners, lobbyists said. “It is more clear than ever that broadband internet is an essential utility,” a Markey spokesperson emailed. Markey “firmly believes” the FCC’s “authority should reflect that, so it can fulfill its obligations to the public by reinstating net neutrality rules, protecting consumers, and taking other critical steps to create a just digital future.” The FCC’s “rollback of net neutrality” under former Chairman Ajit Pai “was a huge loss for competition and privacy,” a Wyden spokesperson said. Wyden “still believes that net neutrality is the foundation of an open internet that works for everyone -- not just Big Cable and big incumbents.” Congress “should pass the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act and confirm Gigi Sohn to the FCC without further delay,” said Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood in a statement. “It’s time for Senate leadership to end this senseless delay and get the agency back to full capacity.” It “was only during the Trump administration that the FCC … disavowed any authority to fulfill its congressional mandate to ensure all Americans have access to communications services,” said Public Knowledge Director-Government Affairs Greg Guice. “This legislation is more than just a bill for net neutrality. It will reinstate” the FCC “with the authority to promote policies to help consumers access broadband … as well as promote competition and public safety while strengthening the resiliency of these networks during disasters.” U.S. “broadband customers have waited far too long for Congress to step up and codify the important net neutrality principles that broadband providers already follow today,” said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter. “But let’s be clear: any such legislation cannot and must not be a backdoor for government to regulate prices and degrade the consumer internet experience.” Any “potential government effort to regulate prices under the cover of net neutrality would hurt consumers, slow investment and stifle competition,” he said.

The House passed the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900) Thursday with a package of telecom and tech-focused amendments (see 2207140070) on a bipartisan 329-101 vote. Approved amendments to the measure included ones to require more DOD transparency on its implementation of its 2020 spectrum sharing strategy and modifications to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s remit. The House also voted 405-20 to pass the Promoting U.S. International Leadership in 5G Act (HR-1934), which would direct the secretary of state to assist in enhancing U.S. leadership at international standards-setting bodies that handle 5G and other telecom issues (see 2206210048). Lawmakers originally debated the measure on the floor in June (see 2206210048).

TikTok must provide all documents and communications about its relationship with Chinese parent company ByteDance and its data-sharing practices (see 2206280064), House Republicans wrote the company Thursday, launching an investigation into TikTok’s handling of American user data. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., said: “Data collected by TikTok on U.S. users, such as browsing and search history, biometrics, location data, and other metadata, would be a massive national security risk in the hands of” Chinese Communist Party intelligence. TikTok didn’t comment.

Bipartisan children’s privacy legislation is in line for a Senate Commerce Committee markup, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday, as expected (see 2207080053). “Not next week but maybe something after that,” Cantwell said Thursday in response to our question on Capitol Hill about the Kids Online Safety Act from Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “I think after that you might see that bill” marked up, Cantwell said.

The $52 billion Chips Act incentive package embedded in both the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and America Competes Act now before House and Senate conferees “has become a bit of a political football,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. “We’ve made it super-clear” to the House and Senate leadership that if the Chips Act funding is not approved, “I will change my plans” to invest $20 billion in Ohio to build two Intel semiconductor fabs on a 1,000-acre campus just east of Columbus (see 2201210041), Gelsinger told a Washington Post webinar Tuesday. The Europeans "have moved forward very aggressively” on a package of incentives for the semiconductor industry that's in "the final stages of approval," said Gelsinger. “I think it’s embarrassing that the U.S. started this process a full year before the Europeans, and the complex, 27-member-state Europeans have moved forward more rapidly. It’s just implausible.” Intel is emphasizing to House and Senate leaders that "there are real-time consequences" if the Chips Act funding "doesn't pass," said Gelsinger. "I will make the decision to delay our project in Ohio. We're going to go ahead in Ohio, but the speed and the size is dependent on U.S. industrial policy to make this happen, and that's embodied in the Chips Act."

The Senate was highly unlikely to be able to hold votes on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn this week even before the chamber's planned Monday night return from a two-week recess, amid a new set of Democratic absences. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut separately announced they're quarantining this week after testing positive for COVID-19. Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont is recovering from hip replacement surgery and it's unclear whether he will be available for floor votes this week. All 50 Senate Democratic caucus members' votes will be needed to overcome expected uniform GOP opposition in the tied chamber. Former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani and Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez criticized Schumer Sunday for refusing to use his power to bring Sohn up for a Senate vote to discharge her from the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction, an initial step to bringing her to the floor. "Instead of confronting the dishonest attacks" against Sohn that have contributed to the confirmation stall (see 2206240074), "Democratic leaders have dithered and delayed," Gonzalez and Tristani said in a New York Daily News opinion piece. "Schumer may be reluctant to call a vote for Sohn without clear commitments from 50 senators. But a small set of holdouts won’t commit unless a vote is called. And so Sohn waits as the midterm elections inch closer, and the Democrats risk losing power in Congress." The "absence of a fully functional FCC is a profound liability for the party at a time of multiple crises, when people rely on an internet connection to learn about job opportunities, seek vital healthcare and engage in civic affairs," Gonzalez and Tristani said: "If Sen. Schumer doesn’t call a vote now, Sohn may never get confirmed," which "would be an unforgivable failure for a Democratic Party that can’t seem to get out of its own way to serve the public."

The House Rules Committee plans a Tuesday meeting to reconsider the Active Shooter Alert Act (HR-6538) and vote on allowing floor consideration of a series of telecom and tech amendments to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). The meeting will begin at noon in the Capitol Room H-313. The House failed to pass HR-6538 last month under suspension of the rules (see 2206230002). The measure would direct DOJ to create a national active shooter alert system that would use the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (see 2206210048). Filed HR-7900 amendments include proposals to require more DOD transparency on its implementation of its 2020 spectrum sharing strategy, bar TikTok use on government devices, and several focusing on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (see 2207070064).

The House Rules Committee set a Wednesday due date for lawmakers to submit amendments to House Appropriations Committee-cleared FY 2023 funding bills for the FCC, FTC and Agriculture Department. House Appropriations proposes giving the FCC $390 million, the FTC $490 million and USDA rural broadband programs $560 million (see 2206270061). Rules "is likely to meet the week of July 18 to grant a rule that may provide a structured amendment process for floor consideration" of the Appropriations measures, the committee said Friday. Amendments are due at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged the FTC Tuesday to "immediately initiate" an FTC Act "Section 5 investigation on the basis of apparent deception by TikTok" and parent company ByteDance about whether China-based employees have access to U.S. users' data on the app. They noted recent "public reports" that individuals in China have been accessing data on U.S. users. TikTok said last month amid scrutiny from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and Senate Republicans that it has always given company engineers, including those in China, access to U.S. user data on an “as-needed basis” under “strict controls" (see 2206280064). Those actions contradict "several public representations" by TikTok executives, "including sworn testimony" at an October Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing (see 2110260070), Warner and Rubio said in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan. They believe a Section 5 probe is necessary since "TikTok’s privacy practices are already subject to" a 2019 consent decree (see 1902270059) "based on its improper collection and processing of personal information from children." Recent "updates to TikTok’s privacy policy, which indicate that TikTok may be collecting biometric data such as faceprints and voiceprints (i.e. individually identifiable image and audio data, respectively), heighten the concern that data of U.S. users may be vulnerable to extrajudicial access by security services controlled" by the Chinese Communist Party, the senators said. TikTok said it "has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government, nor would we if asked." The FTC confirmed it received the letter.