Jimm Phillips

The House Commerce Committee’s Wednesday advancement of the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and panel leaders’ push to enact (see 2305170037) a bill to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through June 30 (HR-3345) are aimed squarely at putting pressure on Senate negotiators to reach a deal, said lawmakers, congressional aides and others in interviews. The panel advanced an amended version of HR-3565 50-0 and unanimously approved five bipartisan broadband permitting measures but divided sharply along party lines on the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-3557).

Three House Communications Subcommittee priorities drew equal attention during a Tuesday hearing with NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: leaders’ push for a wide-ranging spectrum legislative package, oversight of federal broadband spending, and renewed Hill interest in reauthorizing the agency’s mandate with an eye to addressing future policy issues. The hearing was partly a curtain-raiser for the Commerce Committee’s planned Wednesday markup of the newly filed Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and six broadband measures House Communications approved last week (see 2305170037).

President Joe Biden’s decision to simultaneously announce his intended pick Monday of former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to the long-vacant fifth FCC seat and his renomination of sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, as expected (see 2305180067 and 2305220020), is likely to speed Senate confirmation for all three candidates, said congressional officials and communications policy observers in interviews. There’s not a hard timeline for Senate consideration of the trio, but a Commerce Committee confirmation hearing is likely sometime in June and some stakeholders said they will push the chamber to approve all three before the start of the August recess.

The White House plans to announce on Monday President Joe Biden’s intent to nominate former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to the vacant fifth FCC seat and renominate sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, congressional and other communications policy lobbyists told us Sunday night and Monday. The White House didn’t immediately comment.

President Joe Biden is all but certain to nominate former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez to fill the long-vacant fifth FCC seat, but the timing of a formal announcement remained uncertain Thursday despite a Bloomberg report implying it was imminent, congressional officials and communications policy observers told us. Gomez’s confirmation would give the FCC a 3-2 Democratic majority after more than two years of a 2-2 tie. Previous candidate Gigi Sohn asked Biden in March to withdraw her name after her often-contentious Senate confirmation process repeatedly stalled (see 2303070082).

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., threw a wrench in Senate prospects for quickly passing a new proposal from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through June 30 (HR-3345) before the House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced it during a Wednesday markup session. The mandate expired in early March after Rounds objected to Senate leaders' bid to pass a House-cleared bill to extend the mandate through May 19 (HR-1108) by unanimous consent (see 2303090074). Rounds told us Tuesday he still won't allow UC passage of any bill to restore the FCC's remit unless it goes through Sept. 30 to give DOD time to complete a study of its systems on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band.

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked the FCC’s Office of Inspector General Tuesday to “investigate Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s unprecedented actions against” the proposed Standard General/Tegna deal, including the Media Bureau’s February hearing designation order seen as a de facto denial of the transaction (see 2302240068). Standard, Tegna and many advocates for their deal again asked for an FCC vote on the matter, holding ex parte meetings with Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington (see 2305120056).

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Tuesday a recent conversation she had with White House officials leads her to believe President Joe Biden may announce a new nominee for the long-vacant fifth FCC seat as soon as “this week.” Other observers’ recently believed a pick might not happen until at least the end of May (see 2305120050). Administration officials didn’t reveal the names of any potential candidates for the role, just “that we would be seeing a name soon,” Cantwell told us. “I just assume soon means momentarily, like this week, not two weeks from now or a month from now.” Former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez remains the prohibitive favorite to get the FCC nod (see 2305020001), lobbyists told us. Some believe questions about how a Gomez nomination would affect U.S. preparations for the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference contributed to the Biden administration’s delay in finalizing her selection for an FCC seat. Cantwell said she would oppose any White House proposal to delay confirming a nominee until November or December to accommodate a candidate completing an existing role, since the FCC has already been tied 2-2 for more than two years due to the Senate’s repeated stall of ex-pick Gigi Sohn’s confirmation. “People are dying for more certainty out of the FCC,” she said: “I don’t think we should wait” even longer.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said during and after a Thursday hearing they’re forming a USF-focused task force to evaluate how to move forward on a comprehensive revamp of the program that may update its contribution factor to include non-wireline entities. Senate Communications members cited several telecom policy matters that intertwine with the push for USF changes, including future funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity fund and restoring the commission’s lapsed spectrum auction authority.

The GOP leads on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees were noncommittal in interviews before a Wednesday House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee hearing about what kind of modifications they would like for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program. Current estimates peg ACP as likely to exhaust the initial $14.2 billion in funding from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during the first half of 2024, perhaps as early as Q1. The Commerce Oversight hearing highlighted partisan fault lines over how much Congress should modify the existing federal broadband funding apparatus.