U.S. agencies remain on high alert for Russian cyberthreats, despite no major attacks on the U.S. homeland during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Department of Homeland Security and OMB officials told the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee during a hearing Tuesday. Federal chief information officers have been convening meetings since November on protective measures, and they remain in an “elevated state,” said Christopher DeRusha, deputy national cyber director-federal cybersecurity, Office of the National Cyber Director. It was a “paramount concern” well before the Russian invasion, said Eric Goldstein, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's executive assistant director-cybersecurity: The U.S. hasn’t seen any “damaging attacks,” but agencies remain in a posture of “heightened risk” and are focused on sharing information as quickly as possible.

The Supreme Court shouldn’t allow Texas’ social media law to be enforced, former Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., wrote the high court Tuesday in case 21A720 (see 2205160030). The Supreme Court should preserve the status quo and vacate the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order allowing the state’s social media law to be enforced, argued Cox, who co-wrote Communications Decency Act Section 230 with then-Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. By requiring all viewpoints to be treated the same, Texas’ new law would “expose platforms to liability for moderating such loathsome content as racist diatribes, Nazi screeds, holocaust-denial misinformation, and foreign government propaganda,” Cox wrote in support of NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association. The associations filed an emergency application for immediate administrative relief with the high court.

The House Communications Subcommittee plans a May 24 hearing on wireless legislation, including the newly filed Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) to renew the FCC’s auction authority for 18 months to March 31, 2024, the House Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The FCC's current auction authority expires Sept. 30. The hearing will discuss "the urgent need to reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, as well as requiring mobile service providers to protect survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other related crimes from abusers with whom they share mobile service contracts,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “We’ll also review bills to strengthen the FCC’s Lifeline program and improve federal spectrum testing and management.” Other bills House Communications will examine are the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275), the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990), the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The hearing will begin at 11 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Democrats “are failing to deliver” on campaign promises made during the 2018 and 2020 elections that they would “restore net neutrality” if voters gave the party majorities in Congress and the FCC, said Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer in a Monday Fast Company opinion piece. President Joe Biden “waited months to announce his FCC nominees” (see 2110260076) and “the Democratic controlled Senate has slow-walked their confirmation process, caving repeatedly to delay tactics pushed by big media and cable companies.” The FCC remains in a 2-2 tie and FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s confirmation process faces a potential long-term stall because a handful of Senate Democrats remain undecided (see 2205050050). “The goal of the industry is clear: They want to pick their regulator” and “as of right now, it looks like Democrats might let them,” Greer said. “There have been some real hurdles with tight margins and Senators absent due to the ongoing” COVID-19 pandemic, but “that inaction and lack of leadership has put the Biden administration’s stated goals,” including “restoring” net neutrality with a legal basis in Communications Act Title II, “expanding equitable broadband access, and ensuring oversight of” ISPs during the pandemic “in peril.” Republicans “have largely championed the telecom industry’s interests in” Washington, D.C., in recent years, but “top Democrats remain cozy with the industry’s top brass,” Greer said.

President Joe Biden “may be endangering vulnerable Senate Democrats by continuing to push” for the chamber to confirm FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, the Wall Street Journal editorial board said Monday. Sohn’s confirmation process has stalled while three Senate Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remain undecided whether to back the nominee (see 2205050050). The WSJ editorial board, which has repeatedly opposed Sohn, said “her seeming animus to cops” is a primary motivator for the Democrats who are “reluctant to back her” given the Fraternal Order of Police’s criticisms of the nominee (see 2201040071). FOP cited Sohn’s role as a board member for the Electronic Frontier Foundation due to that group’s backing of end-to-end encryption and “user-only access,” plus social media posts seen as critical of the police. “Business groups haven’t come out as strongly against Ms. Sohn as they have some other nominees,” WSJ said. “Perhaps broadcasters and broadband providers are resigned to more aggressive regulation once a third Democrat joins the FCC.” Still, “the White House is putting the three wavering Democratic Senators in a political bind,” the editorial board said. Biden “would do his own party a favor by withdrawing Ms. Sohn’s nomination. But if he doesn’t, Senators can do the country a favor by defeating her.”

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., filed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Modernization Act Tuesday in a bid to update the 2010 Calm Act's bar on excessively loud TV ads. The FCC Media Bureau sought comment last year in docket 21-181 on whether the FCC needs to update its existing Calm Act implementation rules at Eshoo's behest (see 2104200001). The Calm Modernization Act would extend the 2010 law's excessively loud ad bar to streaming services and would strengthen the FCC's ability to investigate and enforce violations. The measure would require a study analyzing the existing law's effectiveness in moderating ad loudness. Since the original law's enactment "streaming services have recreated the problem of loud ads because the old law doesn’t apply to them, and consumers continue to complain about loud ads on broadcast, cable, and satellite TV," Eshoo said. "Today, we’re updating the legislation for the benefit of consumers who are tired of diving for the mute button at every commercial break." Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., signed as co-sponsors. Eshoo's office cited support from Consumer Reports.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will lead a Thursday meeting kicking off the conference committee for the China package (see 2205050025), her office announced Tuesday. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 325 Russell. Committee members will be able to discuss conference priorities during the meeting. House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, will lead the House delegation.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is hoping for a Wednesday vote on confirmation of Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC (see 2205050050), she told us Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture on the nomination Monday, and it will ripen Wednesday. “I would hope” for a vote Wednesday, Cantwell said. “I think everybody’s here. I think everybody’s back in town. Every day, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.” The Bedoya vote has been delayed for weeks due to repeated COVID-19-related absences in the Democratic caucus. Schumer originally filed cloture in April before withdrawing the motion.

House Commerce Committee leaders wrote President Joe Biden Monday in support of U.S.-backed ITU secretary-general candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin. Her prospects of winning against Russian nominee Rashid Ismailov during the ITU’s September plenipotentiary conference have improved amid international criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (see 2203020068). Bogdan-Martin in her current role as ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau director “has focused on closing the digital divide, school connectivity, and developing digital skills and cyber safety,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and leaders of the Communications Subcommittee in a letter to Biden. “Further, Ms. Bogdan-Martin has excelled in forming new partnerships between the ITU and the private sector, thereby bringing more resources to the ITU’s important development efforts.” The lawmakers noted concerns about Ismailov’s candidacy because he’s “Russia’s former Deputy Minister for Communications and Mass Media and a former Huawei executive. Russian citizenship in and of itself is not of concern, but former participation in" Russian President Vladimir Putin's "regime is alarming. Russia’s disregard for international law as evidenced by its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the country’s continued support of cyber criminals, should make it clear to all ITU Member States that Russia’s preferred candidate is unworthy of a position demanding international cooperation and consensus building.”

Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Blake Moore, R-Utah, filed the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act Friday in a bid to encourage U.S. printed circuit board manufacturing alongside current efforts to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry. Congressional conferees are working to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), which both include $52 billion in chip incentives (see 2205050025). The Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act would create a $3 billion Commerce Department-administered financial assistance program modeled after that in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act for U.S.-based facilities making or researching PCBs. The measure would also provide a 25% tax credit for the purchase or acquisition of U.S.-made PCBs. PCBs “are a critical part of that supply chain and are at risk of tampering vulnerabilities related to offshore production, yet the U.S. global production share of PCBs is only approximately four percent, compared to China’s 52 percent,” Eshoo said. “If we want to ensure technological superiority across the global stage and strengthen national security, we need to bring PCB production back to America, which is exactly what my bipartisan bill does.”