House Eyes Reconciliation Votes; Schumer Junks Chips in NDAA
House Democratic leaders were optimistic Thursday they were on the cusp of holding a final vote that night or Friday on the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376) amid expectations that the Congressional Budget Office would publish a final cost estimate that afternoon. The CBO released its estimate earlier in the day for the House Commerce Committee’s portion of HR-5376, which includes $500 million for a new FTC data privacy and security bureau, $500 million for NTIA connected device vouchers, $490 million for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and $300 million for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund.
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The Senate cleared a hurdle to beginning debate on a substitute version of the House-passed FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-4350) amid continued haggling over proposed tech and telecom amendments (see 2111150074). The chamber voted 84-15 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to HR-4350 after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed to “go to conference” on the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), which includes $52 billion to boost chipmaking and $1.5 billion for the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecom Act (see 2106080074).
Pelosi told reporters she’s waiting until CBO releases a final cost estimate on HR-5376 before she decides when and if to hold final votes this week on the measure. A group of centrist Democrats, seen as crucial to the bill’s advancement given assumptions that no Republicans will back it, were withholding their support until they’re satisfied with the CBO estimate. “Those votes, hopefully, will take place later this afternoon,” Pelosi said.
The CBO score for HR-5376’s House Commerce section estimates the amount the FTC’s new privacy bureau will spend annually will increase yearly through FY 2029, starting at $44 million in FY 2022 and ending at $68 million in FY 2029. The money would decrease to $17 million in FY 2030. The annual outlays for NG-911 upgrades will begin at $4 million in FY 2022, peak at $112 million in FY 2026 and end at $1 million in FY 2030. The additional annual ECF money will be available over two years -- $100 million in FY 2022 and $200 million in FY 2023. CBO estimates connected device voucher spending will last three years -- $3 million in FY 2022, $450 million in FY 2023 and $47 million in FY 2024. The affordability spending will begin at $3 million in FY 2022, peak at $74 million in FY 2025 and end at $28 million in FY 2027.
House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., spoke on the floor generally in favor of HR-5376. Ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., criticized the committee’s HR-5376 section, citing CBO’s finding that it will add “$281 billion to the deficit.” It’s overall “reckless spending for the federal government to have more command and control,” she said.
Lawmakers and President Joe Biden have found “many areas of agreement” as they have sought to reach a deal to marry S-1260 and a set of rival House measures, including the National Science Foundation for the Future Act (HR-2225), but “there are still a number of important unresolved issues,” Pelosi and Schumer said Wednesday. “After Senate Republicans made it clear they would block” Schumer’s bid to attach S-1260 to HR-4350, “we have decided that the best way to get an agreement will be through the conference process.”
“There are times when the Senate really ... gets ahead” of the House on legislation “and that’s what happened” with S-1260, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters. She confirmed she will be involved in the conference talks. Now, “we’re just really going to try and focus on the fact that America’s R&D infrastructure needs to be dusted off,” Cantwell said.
Senate leaders agreed to add revised language to the HR-4350 substitute from Armed Services Committee ranking member Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., that would expand a requirement in the FY 2021 NDAA that DOD assess potential monetary damages from harmful interference Ligado L-band use might cause. The amendment would require DOD to “work directly” with the company to “seek recovery” of damage costs.
The substitute includes language from several cybersecurity amendments. One from Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., would create a pilot program to develop public-private partnerships with “internet ecosystem companies” to detect and disrupt “malicious cyber actors.” Inhofe attached text to modify the role of the DOD principal cyber adviser. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., seeks to create a U.S.-Israel AI center. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wants recommendations from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on changes to requirements for cybersecurity accreditation standards and colleges’ curriculums for cyber-related programs.