Jimm Phillips

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is “very hopeful and very optimistic that we’re making progress” in talks on a compromise COVID-19 aid bill despite the Senate failing to invoke cloture on Republicans’ Delivering Immediate Relief to America’s Families, Schools and Small Businesses Act. It has Department of Education funding partly for remote learning (see 2009080076). Senators voted 51-44 on moving forward with debate on the measure, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered as a substitute amendment to S-178, the designated shell bill for the next COVID-19 measure. That fell short of the 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture on legislation. Democrats are pushing for passage of the revised version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-8406), which includes more than $15 billion in broadband funding (see 2009290044). Meadows told reporters he remains hopeful a deal can happen, but Senate Republicans “are starting to get to a point where they believe that” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “is not negotiating in a fair and equitable manner.” Pelosi noted on SiriusXM she wants “a deal” before the Nov. 3 election, and it’s “going to be up to whether” President Donald Trump “can convince [McConnell] to do so.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., urged Democrats to “put partisan politics aside.”

Amazon, Comcast and Facebook were the top tech and telecom sector lobbying spenders during Q3, based on filings due Monday. Twitter, Ligado and T-Mobile reported major increases vs. Q3 2019; Huawei, CenturyLink and Google reported major decreases. NAB was among those earlier reporting decreases, while Charter was among those saying they increased spending (see 2010200059). Facebook shelled out $4.9 million, up 2%. Amazon reported $4.41 million, an 11% increase. Comcast spent $2.96 million, a 1% dip. T-Mobile's $2.64 million was a more than 19% boost. AT&T spent $2.53 million, an almost 22% decline. CTIA was up 3% at $2.35 million. Verizon spent $2.24 million, down more than 7%. Google posted $1.93 million, a more than 35% drop. Qualcomm spent $1.71 million, an almost 4% decline. Apple reported $1.56 million, more than 12% below last year. Ligado spent just over $1 million, a more than 51% rise. Dell was $850,000, down more than 15%. CenturyLink reported $570,000, a 40% drop. Twitter was $430,000, up more than 34%. The Competitive Carriers Association was little changed at $180,000. Huawei reported $100,000, down more than 94%.

NAB, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice reported major decreases in their lobbying spending in Q3 compared with the same period in 2019. NTCA reported a major increase; Charter, NCTA and USTelecom reported modest hikes. NAB spent just over $2 million, a decrease of almost 32%. CCIA spent $40,000, down 20%. NetChoice paid $30,000, a 57% drop. NTCA devoted $100,000, up 25%. NCTA spent $3.11 million, up more than 5%. Charter was $2.4 million, a more than 7% rise. USTelecom spent $520,000, up almost 2%. ViacomCBS shelled out $990,000; CBS alone spent $900,000 last year. Disney spent $860,000, a more than 2% decline. The Information Technology Industry Council spent $420,000, up 5%. Cox spent $810,000, more than 3% down. The Wireless Infrastructure Association spent $180,000, a 14% drop.

Any Joe Biden administration could mean major changes in how DOJ and the FTC handle antitrust matters, said current and former FTC commissioners during a Tuesday Technology Policy Institute webcast event. They suggested that what changes might occur if Democratic presidential nominee Biden wins depend on what resources and statutory changes Congress provides. Some FTC alumni commented on the DOJ Antitrust Division’s lawsuit against Google, claiming the company engages in anticompetitive behavior in its search engine business (see 2010200058).

Several members of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees face tough reelection fights, elections experts told us. Most of the vulnerable lawmakers are Republicans, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Commerce Security Subcommittee Chairman Dan Sullivan of Alaska. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan is the only Democrat on either committee who faces similarly long odds. The House Commerce and Judiciary panels face far less potential turnover among incumbents seeking to return in the next Congress.

House China Task Force Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, believed “we can accomplish” many of the all-GOP group’s recent recommendations regardless of whether President Donald Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 election. He signaled optimism, during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, about prospects for Congress to direct more money toward implementing his Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 is included in both the House and Senate versions of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395/S-4049).

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., began an inquiry Friday into DOD’s recent request for information on dynamic spectrum sharing of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2009210056). "We have heard reports that the suddenness of this request and the short turnaround timeframe have been prompted directly by senior White House Officials," the lawmakers said in a letter to acting NTIA Administrator Adam Candeub. "We have also heard reports that the White House has instructed" DOD "to proceed immediately to a Request for Proposal" in a bid to "move forward toward a national 5G network." News reports indicate "several political operatives or lobbyists with close ties to President [Donald] Trump or his staff," including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., Rivada adviser and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Trump tech sector ally Peter Thiel, "are pushing for the seismic shift in spectrum policy contemplated by the RFI," the lawmakers said. "These reports also suggest these Republican operatives are working for the benefit of" Rivada, "which has long championed a national network that Rivada would construct and operate using its sharing technology.” Pallone and Doyle also asked GAO to "evaluate whether" DOD "has the legal authority to construct, operate, or maintain a commercial communications network or lease" its spectrum "to private entities to provide commercial communications" service: They believe DOD "has limited or no legal authority to do so." The lawmakers earlier raised concerns about the RFI, as did Republican senators and multiple conservative groups (see 2010070045). NTIA confirmed it received the letter. Rivada emphasized it "does not believe in vampires, and it does not support nationalizing" 5G. "We keep hearing that someone, somewhere, wants to nationalize" 5G, and "often, that goal is attributed to Rivada, but we know that isn't true," the company said in a statement. Rivada launched Americans Against Nationalization Thursday to "direct attention to, and expose, any attempts by government to nationalize anything. It will also expose any fraud trying to fake claims of 'nationalization' as these are an insult to the very real victims of nationalization throughout the world." Private-sector "solutions and free-market principles are critical to ensuring America leads in 5G, and it’s important to take a hard look at the dangers of nationalizing our wireless networks," said CTIA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole. GAO didn't comment.

Wednesday night's vice presidential debate featured telecom and tech policy, unlike the debate last week between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris of California contrasted Biden’s infrastructure proposals with Trump’s record. Biden has “a plan that is about investing in infrastructure, something [Trump] said he would do,” Harris said. She cited the Trump administration’s repeated bids for an “Infrastructure Week” aimed at advancing talks on spending for broadband and other projects, but “I don’t think it ever happened.” Trump in March noted interest in pursuing $2 trillion in infrastructure spending as part of COVID-19 legislation (see 2003310070). The House passed the Moving Forward Act (HR-2) in July, including broadband and next-generation 911 funding (see 2007010071). Harris said the administration doesn’t believe sufficiently enough in science, and that hurt the U.S. position as innovation leader. Vice President Mike Pence said Biden is a “cheerleader” for the Communist Party-led Chinese government and “wants to go back to the economic surrender to China.” Harris criticized the Trump administration's trade war with China. Neither candidate named specific Chinese companies that have drawn lawmakers’ scrutiny.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., filed the Beat China by Harnessing Important, National Airwaves for 5G Act Wednesday in a bid to codify the DOD’s deal with the FCC to sell commercial use of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2008100038). Americans for Tax Reform, Heritage Action, TechFreedom and 40 other right-leaning groups, meanwhile, raised concerns with Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., that DOD’s recent request for information on dynamic spectrum sharing of the frequency slice (see 2009210056) could be an avenue to 5G nationalization.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, if he wins the Nov. 3 election, is likely to be “very receptive” to coming legislation from House Antitrust Subcommittee members to implement recommendations from their Tuesday report on competition in the digital economy, subpanel Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., said Wednesday. The report called for bills to institute structural separation and line of business restrictions to address alleged abuse of market power by Google, Facebook, Amazon and other major tech companies (see 2010060062).