Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., introduced the Closing the Digital Divide for Students Act (HR-5834) Thursday, promising improved broadband access for low-income students. “I’ve introduced this legislation to close the digital divide and ensure that students living in poverty have the tools they need to compete with their peers and work towards a brighter future,” Foster said in a statement. In the utility allowance for public housing, the costs of high-speed Internet should be included and not “exceed the lowest cost available in the area of such housing for such high-speed Internet service” and “include any costs for cable or satellite television service or for joint packages for Internet service together with cable or satellite television service,” said the bill text. Foster has one co-sponsor, Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., and the bill was referred to the House Financial Services Committee.

Brinkmanship continued in the advancement of the omnibus government funding package, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (HR-83). The House passed the bicameral compromise Thursday 219-206. The vote wasn't along party lines, with 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats backing the bill and 67 Republicans and 139 Democrats opposing it. The White House reluctantly backed the package, while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opposed it. Congress had also advanced and the White House signed a short-term funding extension (HR-Res. 130) to keep the government funded through Saturday, since government funding ran out Thursday. The omnibus package includes several telecom riders, extending the Internet Tax Freedom Act by one year, temporarily forbidding NTIA from using its funds for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition and forcing the FCC to clarify the waiver process on broadcaster joint sales agreements, in addition to funding agencies including the FCC and FTC (see 1412100041). It would fund the FCC at $340 million in FY2015, the same amount as the previous year and less than requested by several million. “I hope we can complete work on this bill as early as later today, but that depends on everyone’s cooperation,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor Friday. Democratic and Republican senators criticized the package for reasons unrelated to telecom. The Senate hadn't approved the package by our deadline. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters at the Capitol Friday that he still expects the funding battles to resolve in the next day or so and that Congress will not be in session this week.

The response Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., received from ISPs on his request for pledges not to engage in Internet fast lanes is “disappointing,” he said in a statement Friday. Leahy had sent letters to AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon asking them to pledge not to form fast lanes (see 1410230041). “They all maintained that they do not currently plan to engage in paid prioritization; an assertion I welcome,” he said. “What they did not do was answer my call for a firm commitment that they will never engage in that behavior in the absence of clear rules prohibiting such deals.” Leahy has held hearings on net neutrality this year and called for strong protections. “It is not ‘demagoguery,’ as Verizon suggested in its response, when small business owners like Cabot Orton of the Vermont Country Store say that they simply want to see an Internet that continues to treat all businesses equally,” Leahy said. “It is not a ‘phantasm’ when independent content creators like actress Ruth Livier acknowledge that they would not have been able to start their websites if they had to pay for priority access to reach viewers online, or compete against players who did.”

The Copyright Office should be made independent from the Library of Congress, said Dina LaPolt of LaPolt Law in an op-ed for The Hill Wednesday. LaPolt specializes in IP and entertainment law. She said the Patent and Trademark Office is compromising the Copyright’s Office review of copyright law, an area in which the PTO has “no particular expertise.” The Copyright Office, not the PTO, should advise President Barack Obama on copyright issues, said LaPolt.

Four cybersecurity-related bills now await President Barack Obama’s signature after activity in the House and Senate Wednesday and Thursday. The House unanimously approved the National Cybersecurity Protection Act (S-2519) Thursday, a day after the Senate approved the bill, previously known as the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center Act. S-2519, which included language from the House-passed National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696), would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s current cybersecurity role, including the role of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (see 1412100052). The House also unanimously passed the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (S-2521) Wednesday. The bill, which would revise the existing Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), had faced opposition from House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who wrote a similar House-passed FISMA reform bill (HR-1163). The Senate passed the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act (HR-2952) Thursday, which combined an existing version of HR-2952, previously known as the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act, with language from the DHS Cybersecurity Workforce Recruitment and Retention Act (S-2354). The revised HR-2952 would deal with DHS cybersecurity workforce development issues. Obama will also consider the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act (S-1691), which passed the House Wednesday and also includes language from S-2354. Obama is likely to sign all four bills, since the White House hasn’t previously disapproved of the provisions included in the bills, an industry lobbyist told us.

Jason Everett was upped to Democratic chief counsel to the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee, said a House Judiciary spokeswoman Thursday. Everett was Democratic counsel to the subcommittee. David Greengrass, former legislative director to House Judiciary Committee member Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., will join the IP subcommittee as Democratic counsel.

The White House backs the passage of the government-funding omnibus package, known as the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (HR-83), it said Thursday. The White House does object to “the inclusion of ideological and special interest riders,” it also said, not naming any telecom or media items. This package would be responsible for funding the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other parts of the government, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security, through FY2015 and includes several provisions affecting telecom and media policy (see 1412100041). The funding bill has received backlash for different reasons from Democrats and Republicans in both chambers, and the House hadn't approved it at our deadline. Funding for the government was to expire at midnight Thursday, with speculation rampant that Congress will need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government for the next few days as it advances the omnibus. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was lobbying to change the bill, circulating a letter to Democratic colleagues Thursday during a break in House activity saying “it is clear from this recess on the floor that the Republicans don’t have enough votes” and calling for pressure to modify certain banking and campaign finance provisions. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, issued a statement saying he expected House passage of the package Thursday. Congress was initially expected to recess Thursday but will remain in session.

Bipartisan wireless legislation may yet be introduced in the Senate this Congress, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., confirmed Thursday in an interview at the Capitol. Rubio is, as expected (see 1412090051), working on legislation dealing with wireless siting to make it easier for carriers to build out on federal land, and partnering with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. McCaskill spokespeople haven't confirmed that any legislation is in the works. Some people suspected an introduction as soon as Wednesday, but the legislation wasn't introduced then, and Rubio said the senators encountered a procedural snag. The lawmakers are “working through something” with the Capitol's parliamentarian, and it’s possible the bill could still be introduced this week, said Rubio. “We’re working on it,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll be introduced in this Congress or the next. It might be [this week].” Congress was initially expected to recess Thursday but will remain in session to work through a government funding bill and certain other measures.

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., pressed Senate Commerce Committee leadership to advance the Anti-Spoofing Act (HR-3670). She's a backer of the bill, which would take on what Meng calls the “national plague” of caller ID spoofing and modify the Truth in Caller ID Act. “I strongly urge you to favorably consider the unanimous consent petition that has been filed,” she said in a Tuesday letter, “and to discharge this legislation from the Senate Commerce Committee so that it may be considered by the Senate before the end of this Congressional term.” Meng knows of no opposition, she said. The House approved the bill in September.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved Tuesday night by voice vote the nomination of Willie May to be undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology . Lawmakers had met in an executive session to consider multiple nominees.