The topic of the final House Communications Act update white paper is, as expected (see 1410020036), video policy, the committee said Wednesday. “As we often noted during our work to reauthorize the satellite television law, the marketplace for video content and distribution has changed dramatically in recent years and continues to evolve,” said Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a joint statement. “We are long removed from the days of one TV per household, bulky box sets that often doubled as living room furniture. Now, Americans are clamoring for more content and choices, and the ability to view videos whether home or on the go on the platform of their choosing.” The document is the sixth white paper that House Republicans have issued over the past year, seeking feedback in a broader goal to overhaul the Communications Act. Responses to the six-page white paper are due Jan. 23. It asks five overarching questions, examining broadcasters’ role as a “public trustee” and how a new Communications Act should treat over-the-top video services. “How have market conditions changed the assumptions that form the foundation of the Cable Act?” the paper asked. “What changes to the Cable Act should be made in recognition of the market?”

The House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees will have several new Republican members next Congress, the committees announced Wednesday. Judiciary will include Reps. Mike Bishop of Michigan; Ken Buck of Colorado; John Ratcliffe of Texas; Dave Trott of Michigan; and Mimi Walters of California. Homeland Security will now include Reps. Buddy Carter of Georgia; Will Hurd of Texas; John Katko of New York; Barry Loudermilk of Georgia; Martha McSally of Arizona; Ratcliffe; and Mark Walker of North Carolina. Democrats haven't announced new committee members.

The Senate passed the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (S-2521) on a voice vote Monday. The bill would update the existing Federal Information Security Management Act, and direct the Department of Homeland Security to create rules for federal agencies’ response to government data leaks. The Senate Homeland Security Committee cleared the bill in June (see 1406270036). The House will need to sign off on S-2521, which differs from a House-passed version of the bill (HR-1163). House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who sponsored HR-1163, doesn’t support S-2521 and is continuing to encourage the Senate to approve HR-1163, a spokeswoman said. The Senate is still expected to consider the National Cybersecurity Protection Act (S-2519) before the lame-duck session ends this week, an industry lobbyist told us. S-2519 would codify the DHS's current cybersecurity role, including the role of its National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (see 1412080071). The version of S-2519 up for Senate consideration includes language from an earlier version of S-2519 and the House-passed National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696). The House is also expected to consider the Senate-passed Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act (S-1691), which includes language from the DHS Cybersecurity Workforce Recruitment and Retention Act (S-2354), the lobbyist said. The Senate passed S-2354 in September (see 1411070037).

The Senate Commerce Committee was scheduled to consider the nomination of Willie May to be undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology Tuesday around 6 p.m. in an executive session. The session was to take place off the Senate floor in S-216 between two roll call votes. The agenda did not include FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, a Republican the White House renominated for a full five-year term as commissioner. Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., had told us Commerce was discussing including O’Rielly on its agenda and wanted to advance the renomination (see 1412040031). Senate Republicans have indicated they don't believe O’Rielly requires a full hearing for advancement, with a staffer suggesting to us that the renomination could be simply discharged or reported from committee and moved on the Senate floor this week (see 1412050032).

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are expected to team up to introduce wireless spectrum legislation Wednesday, at the end of the 113th Congress. An industry official and Democratic Senate staffer confirmed the partnership and pending introduction. The legislation is expected to make it easier for carriers to build out networks on federal land. The Senate staffer referred to it as the “shot clock” bill. Rubio has introduced two spectrum bills this year, one piece without co-sponsors on spectrum reallocation and one with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., on spectrum sharing. Rubio outlined a desire to introduce legislation dealing with wireless siting, and in September told us he doubted the prospects for any of his wireless legislation in this Congress (see 1409220044). He already was talking with incoming leadership of the Commerce Committee for the next Congress and also was seeking Democrats to back his bills, he said then. Given the busy lame-duck session, with much attention now focused on funding the government and a Senate report on U.S. CIA torture practices, it’s hard to see such legislation moving in this Congress, the Senate staffer said. The current session of Congress is expected to end as soon as Thursday. Spokespeople for McCaskill and Rubio didn’t comment. Both senators are members of the Communications Subcommittee.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler feels powerless “outrage” that schools and libraries may use the Children’s Internet Protection Act to block content favorable to gay and lesbian advocates, he told several House Democratic lawmakers in a letter the agency released last week. The FCC “is bound by Congress's strict determination that, for purposes of CIPA compliance, decisions about what material is ‘inappropriate for minors’ be made at the local level,” Wheeler said. “Unless and until Congress makes changes to this law, the Commission cannot review the decisions made at the local level.” Concerned lawmakers included Reps. Mike Honda, D-Calif.; David Cicilline, D-R.I.; Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; and Jared Polis, D-Colo.

The likely incoming top Senate Commerce Committee Democrat invoked a controversial partisan piece of legislation on the Senate floor Monday, one that initially derailed the confirmation of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in late 2013 (see 1310300065). Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., brought up the Disclose Act, which is designed to force certain funders of political advertising to be more transparent. “We had 59 votes, we needed 60 to cut off debate so we could get to the Disclose Act,” Nelson said, citing a failed cloture vote on S-3628 in 2010. Three years later, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blocked the confirmation of Wheeler’s FCC chairmanship for months over concerns that the agency may try independently to impose the requirements of the Disclose Act. Nelson lamented the losses of several Democrats in the November midterm elections, including Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. Republicans won control of the Senate. Nelson slammed the “the avalanche of outside money” that is used to define political candidates with statements that are untrue. “When you talk to the TV stations, the broadcast stations, and you show them the fact checkers, they’ll still run the TV ads,” Nelson said. Pryor also spoke on the floor, delivering a farewell address in which he called the Senate “broken,” with a system full of “dysfunction,” recognized by the American people. “If we had been able to pass that, then all of this money would not be flowing because it’s hiding behind this masquerade of the Committee for Good Government or the ABC Committee for Whatever,” Nelson said of the Disclose Act’s failed cloture vote. These political spenders “masquerade behind that veil to spend all of that money” to defeat candidates and “it caught a number of our people,” he said.

The FCC must reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, argued Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Angus King, I-Maine, in a joint CNN op-ed Monday. “Some worry that this approach could be overly burdensome on Internet service providers, but the fact is, the FCC can easily apply only the necessary parts of Title II regulation through a process known as forbearance,” they said. “This flexible approach would allow the FCC to adopt bright-line rules that provide certainty to the market, and would keep the Internet as a powerful, open platform that gives everyone -- not just the highest-bidder -- the opportunity to freely exchange goods and ideas.” Any alternative “will not allow the FCC to adopt the rules we need today to protect customers and businesses, and will result in high social and economic costs,” they said, calling for a ban on blocking, discrimination and Internet “tolls.” Capitol Hill Republicans and many industry stakeholders have warned of what they see as burdens of reclassification.

The Senate is likely to consider two cybersecurity bills this week -- the National Cybersecurity Protection Act (S-2519) and the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (S-2521) -- as the lame-duck session draws to a close, an industry lobbyist told us. The timing of final votes on the two bills was fluid amid wrangling by the bills’ Senate supporters, though it was possible a vote on S-2519 could occur as early as Monday night after our deadline, the lobbyist said. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., has been circulating the revised version of S-2519, originally called the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center Act, in recent days in the form of a manager’s amendment, the industry lobbyist said. The revised S-2519 would combine many elements of the original S-2519 and some language from the House-passed National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696), the manager's amendment said. S-2519 would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s current cybersecurity role, particularly via DHS's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. Senate Homeland Security originally cleared the bill in June (see 1406270036). Senate Homeland Security didn’t comment. The revised S-2519 doesn’t include provisions in HR-3696 that would have amended the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act of 2002 to allow companies to seek liability protections for sharing cybersecurity information with DHS. S-2519 does include language from HR-3696 urging security clearances be provided to critical infrastructure owners and operators, as well as requiring the DHS secretary to submit a report six months after the bill’s enactment on facilitating information sharing. The American Civil Liberties Union endorsed HR-3696 but has criticized the stalled Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-2588) and its House-passed counterpart, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured two House Democrats about his net neutrality goals in letters last month, released by the agency last week. “Suffice it to say, there are three bright lines for any open Internet rules: no blocking, no throttling, and no fast lanes,” Wheeler said in a letter to House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., noting the two had “just met” on net neutrality issues. Wheeler has “consistently stated my opposition to ‘fast lanes’ that degrade the quality of the consumer's experience or create an artificial structure that interferes with the virtuous cycle of the Internet ecosystem,” he told House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in another letter. “With concerns like these in mind, our Notice expressly asks whether and how the Commission can prohibit or presume illegal paid prioritization practices, consistent with our authority.” Eshoo and Waxman have backed some use of Communications Act Title II reclassification.