Lawmakers need to “act swiftly” to prevent the expiration of Medicare telehealth services in September or risk a “telehealth shutdown” on Oct.1, said the American Telemedicine Association and more than 350 health-care organizations, providers and universities in a letter and news release Thursday. The letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Congress should act to make Medicare telehealth flexibilities permanent or at least issue a two-year extension for them, the letter said. “We write today to request your leadership in ensuring Medicare beneficiaries are able to access the same telehealth services that they have been relying on for the past five years,” the letter said. “Telehealth is a strongly supported, bipartisan issue. It is crucial that both the House and Senate pass permanent or long-term telehealth provisions to ensure stable access to health care services.”

Twenty-three Democratic members of the House slammed an FCC Wireline Bureau order that delays until April 1, 2027, the implementation of rules curbing the costs of incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS). In a letter to Chairman Brendan Carr, they asked for an explanation (see 2507030024), given the Jan. 5 deadline for rules written into the Martha Wright-Reed Act. The delay “will have immediate and devastating consequences for our constituents,” said the lawmakers, led by Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., on Friday praised the FCC's adoption Thursday of its undersea cable order and accompanying Further NPRM (see 2508070037). The order aimed to simplify the approval process and address national security risks. “Subsea cables underpin the overwhelming majority of international internet traffic, and [the FCC's] unanimous decision protects that critical infrastructure from interference by our foreign adversaries,” Guthrie said. “Continued investment and streamlining our approval processes for submarine cable infrastructure will enhance the resiliency of these critical networks and enable the [U.S.] to expand our global technological dominance.” The U.S. “must defend against our adversaries, such as China, who seek to access and tamper with American networks.”

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Wednesday she will seek her party's nomination next year to become Tennessee governor. President Donald Trump "is back [for a second term], America is blessed and Tennessee -- better than ever,” Blackburn said in a video announcement. She's running to make the state “America's conservative leader for this generation and the next.” In this Congress, Blackburn was a strong supporter of a successful push by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to move a spectrum pipeline as part of the budget reconciliation package that's larger than what the House Commerce Committee originally proposed (see 2505130059). She also chairs the Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee and recently restarted the chamber's privacy legislation conversation. Blackburn, who won a second term last year (see 2411060001), was House Communications Subcommittee chair immediately before her first Senate election in 2018.

The Senate on Saturday confirmed the Republican National Committee’s former chief counsel as national cyber director.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., blamed President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans on Friday night for CPB’s announcement that day that it will end operations when its federal funding lapses Oct. 1 (see 2508010061). Trump signed off in late July on the 2025 Rescissions Act to claw back $1.1 billion of CPB's advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 (see 2507250047). The Senate Appropriations Committee also advanced its FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee spending bill last week without language to restore that funding (see 2507310062).

The recently relaunched bipartisan congressional working group studying a USF legislative revamp is seeking a new round of stakeholder comments about how to proceed and has opened a portal for submissions, Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said Friday. Meanwhile, the Digital Progress Institute said in a white paper Thursday that USF's current contribution mechanism is “unsustainable” and “horrendously inefficient.”

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., urged new NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth on Thursday “to immediately restore” $550 million allocated for the fifth year of funding for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Digital Equity Act program, which President Donald Trump suspended in May (see 2505090051), “and swiftly approve and release BEAD funding to states like New Mexico.” Lujan and other Senate Commerce Committee Democrats cited Roth's lack of clear answers on the administration's plans for the $42.5 billion BEAD program as a reason to vote against advancing her confirmation in April (see 2504090037). The Senate confirmed Roth last week (2507230064).

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., on Thursday filed the Modernization, Accountability and Planning for Broadband Funding Act in a bid to increase oversight of the FCC's broadband funding map. The bill would direct the FCC to conduct a notice of inquiry on the map’s function and the data it displays for maximum usability. The notice would assess whether there need to be updates to the map based on user feedback. The measure would also direct the Government Accountability Office to evaluate whether federal agencies are providing data for the map in compliance with current law and would identify any reporting gaps.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., led the refiling Thursday of the NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act, as expected (see 2507300029). The bill, which the Senate approved by unanimous consent in 2023, would require NOAA to upgrade infrastructure to improve reliable transmission of emergency alerts and reduce the system’s use of copper wire transmissions (see 2312190081). Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich., signed on as a co-sponsor, along with three other Commerce members: Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.