Jimm Phillips

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Wednesday she believes lawmakers need to “reach an agreement as soon as possible” on spectrum legislative items currently tied up with renewing the FCC’s auction authority. Congress extended the FCC’s auction authority through March 9 as part of the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package, but leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees hope they can agree on a broader spectrum bill, after a legislative deal they hoped to attach to the omnibus fell through in December (see 2212280044).

Intelsat and SpaceX officials gave high marks to a draft updated version of the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act and refiled Secure Space Act (HR-675), in written testimony before a planned Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the bills. Representatives from the FCC and Planet Labs gave more measured but positive reviews. Witnesses also spoke positively about the Leveraging American Understanding of Next-Generation Challenges Exploring Space Act (HR-682) and two other draft satellite bills the subcommittee will review Wednesday: the draft Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act and draft Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity (PASC) Act. The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold its third confirmation hearing for FCC nominee Gigi Sohn Feb. 14, a panel aide told us Tuesday night. President Joe Biden re-selected Sohn in January following stalled confirmation processes in 2021 and 2022.

President Joe Biden called during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night for Congress to “pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban targeted advertising to children, and impose stricter limits on the personal data these companies collect on all of us.” The government “must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit,” Biden said. He called for similar legislation last month amid hopes for more collaboration on privacy legislation.

The Senate Commerce Committee’s timeline for acting on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn remained in flux Friday as Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continued to embrace different timelines for a third confirmation on the long-stalled Sohn. Cantwell said Thursday she remains intent on having the hearing this month despite continued procedural hurdles that largely delayed Senate business. Cruz told us he’s still pushing for Commerce to delay the panel until March to give GOP members more time to prepare their case against Sohn (see 2301260068). President Joe Biden renominated Sohn in January after the new Congress convened (see 2301030060).

Republicans’ return to a House majority is unlikely to mean a big shift in the chamber’s approach to space policy and legislative priorities since those matters have generally been an area of bipartisan cooperation, policy experts said in interviews. The House Commerce Committee made its first foray into space matters for this Congress Thursday via a Communications Subcommittee hearing (see 2301270076) that lobbyists saw as a precursor to panel leaders’ plans to prioritize advancing legislation to revamp the FCC’s satellite licensing rules. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., staked the panel's claim to a role in space policy, saying during the hearing it has "been far too long since Congress reassessed the role of satellite technology in the communications marketplace and whether or not our regulatory environment encourages investment and innovation in the space economy, or hampers it."

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn's re-selection "has not been withdrawn," despite a Wednesday Fox News report to the contrary, a White House spokesperson told us Thursday. Fox News cited a Senate aide who said the Biden administration pulled Sohn after Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., agreed to GOP requests for a third confirmation hearing. Fox News reported Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is seeking the hearing but misidentified him as still being Commerce ranking member. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is now Commerce ranking member, while Wicker shifted at the start of this Congress to become lead Armed Services Committee Republican. A Commerce spokesperson also denied the report's claims. Cantwell has been eyeing a February hearing date, while panel Republicans are asking her to delay it until March (see 2301260068). Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer and National Digital Inclusion Alliance Communications Director Yvette Scorse want Cantwell and other Democratic leaders to “speak out immediately and make it clear that they will stand strong against” recent reports about Sohn’s role as an Electronic Frontier Foundation board member (see 2301300025) that they see as “weaponized homophobia” against the nominee, who would be the first openly LGBTQ commissioner if confirmed.

DirecTV is facing strong pushback from congressional Republicans over its recent decision to drop Newsmax from its channel lineup (see (Ref:2301250042]). Incoming Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and three other GOP leaders pressed DirecTV and main shareholders AT&T and TPG Wednesday to explain the action, which they consider new evidence of anti-conservative censorship. Former House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck of Colorado and more than a dozen other chamber Republicans blasted DirecTV on the floor Tuesday and promised hearings on the issue.

Unions representing workers at the FCC and other federal agencies criticized the Stopping Home Office Work's Unproductive Problems Act (HR-139) ahead of House passage of the measure, which would require the FCC and all other federal agencies to return to using the telework policies in place at the end of 2019. The measure would effectively require all federal employees who were working in the office before the COVID-19 pandemic to return to their former work locations. The House passed HR-139 221-206 amid strong Democratic opposition.

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn's supporters on and off Capitol Hill said recent reports on her role as an Electronic Frontier Foundation board member are baseless and discriminatory. The Senate Commerce Committee, meanwhile, appeared likely to hold its third confirmation hearing on Sohn sometime next week or the following one, despite calls from panel Republicans for a delay until March (see 2301260068), lobbyists told us. A hearing next week would be just days after Senate Commerce’s planned Thursday organizational meeting, which was considered the hurdle delaying progress on Sohn into February (see 2301200058). The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.