The Writers Guild of America, West welcomed Sen. Patrick Leahy’s, D-Vt., introduction of the Copyright and Marriage Equality Act, in a news release Wednesday. The bill is designed to close a “loophole” in the Copyright Act that “discriminates among lawfully married couples,” said a news release from Leahy’s office Wednesday. “A provision in the Copyright Act grants rights to the surviving spouse of a copyright owner only if the marriage is recognized in the owner’s state of residence at the time he or she dies,” it said. “It is wrong for the federal government to deny benefits or privileges to couples who have lawfully wed," said Leahy. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., introduced the same bill (HR-5617) in September. That bill has 32 House co-sponsors.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, officially lost his re-election bid. Begich had held out hope for several days after last week’s midterm elections in the race against Republican challenger Dan Sullivan, but the race was called in Sullivan’s favor. Sullivan declared victory Wednesday. Begich is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and has actively pursued issues of broadband deployment and USF rules. His loss means the GOP has gained at least eight Senate seats, further strengthening the party’s majority in the next Congress.

The House Judiciary and House Oversight committees plan a joint hearing Nov. 18 on the alleged abuses within the Patent and Trademark Office’s employee telework program, said a joint news release Monday. The hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Rayburn 2151. “USPTO officials reportedly removed damaging information from an internal report to avoid disclosure of abuses in the telework program, including instances where employees repeatedly lied about work hours and received bonuses for work they did not do,” it said. “It is alleged that employees responsible for wrongdoing reportedly faced little or no consequences for their actions,” it said. “The reports of abuses in the Patent and Trademark Office’s telework program are startling and disturbing,” said Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “The upcoming hearing will allow our Members to examine what happened and explore ways to ensure that this kind of misuse of government resources does not recur,” he said. “The benefits of eliminating commutes and offering employees flexible hours are obvious, but there are serious concerns that the Federal government is not able to oversee gross abuses by employees looking to game the system,” said Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., officially won his re-election bid. Ed Gillespie, the Republican consultant who opposed him, conceded defeat Friday. Warner had maintained a slight lead since Tuesday and was widely considered victorious, if just barely. "I called Mark Warner to congratulate him," Gillespie said during a news conference. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., declared victory Friday in the California 17th District House race. He has led with 52 percent of the vote against Democratic opponent Ro Khanna, former deputy assistant secretary of Commerce during President Barack Obama's first term. Khanna, a candidate who amassed significant backing from the tech industry, had not yet conceded defeat at our deadline. Both Honda and Khanna had voiced support for strong net neutrality rules and criticized government surveillance.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defended from a technical standpoint the agency’s December NPRM on allowing in-flight phone use while emphasizing the agency is involved in coordination that could include a ban of in-flight conversations. “The NPRM represents only the beginning of a process to consider carefully whether and how we should revise our rules to give airlines the ability to allow passengers to use mobile wireless services while flying above 10,000 feet,” Wheeler told lawmakers in an Oct. 31 response the agency released Friday. “The NPRM makes clear that nothing in the proposal would limit the ability of airlines to ban wireless voice conversations in-flight.” The FCC is conferring with the Department of Transportation in its own assessment of whether such calls should be banned, he said. The FCC has “created a formal input process to examine safety and security matters,” Wheeler said. “This includes a federal multi-stakeholder working group that FCC staff convened to consider national security and safety-related matters related to in-flight wireless services. The working group includes subject matter experts from the DOT, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), and other relevant federal agencies.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., that the agency is looking into the term “not-for-profit hospital,” which the lawmaker suggested could use some clarity. Commission staff is “actively reviewing questions about the term's definition and seek to reach a determination in as expeditious a manner as possible,” Wheeler said in an Oct. 24 letter the agency released last week. “In general, it is important that the types of health care consortia envisioned by the HCF [Healthcare Connect Fund] program have the flexibility to include as members those entities that will provide as broad an array of telehealth and telemedicine applications as possible, while also ensuring the program maintains sufficient funding to aid the beneficiaries for which it is primarily intended: rural health care providers.”

Public Knowledge upped pressure on all senators to save the set-top box integration ban, contrary to NCTA’s wishes and prompting the association's ire. Public Knowledge led a letter, backed by Common Cause, Consumer Action, Free Press and the Parents Television Council, to all 100 senators asking them to ensure repeal of the integration ban doesn't proceed as part of Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization. “If some insist on including special interest provisions to pad the pockets of the cable industry in legislation designed to keep the government open, we urge you to reject such a cynical, anti-consumer move,” the groups told senators. “There is no reason to hold the workings of the government or the delivery of satellite service hostage to the cable industry's effort to expand their monopolistic stranglehold on consumers.” They backed either stripping the integration ban repeal language or replacing it with a provision offered by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., which calls for a successor standard before any repeal. Markey and, as of the last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have objected to hotlining the STELA reauthorization proposal due to this provision, and Public Knowledge has told us that other senators privately have voiced concerns (see 1411040053). Hotlining is a procedure that allows bills to be voted on by unanimous consent. STELA expires Dec. 31, and reauthorization is considered must-pass legislation before then. The House already approved an integration appeal in its STELA reauthorization this summer. “Every U.S. senator should know that American consumers are watching them as they decide whether to maintain choice and competition in the set-top box marketplace,” PK Vice President-Government Affairs Chris Lewis said in a statement. “If this legislative giveaway to Comcast and the cable industry is allowed to pass, it will provide them with a virtual monopoly on set-top boxes and allow prices on box rentals to increase unchallenged.” NCTA and staffers for the proposal's author Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., have defended the provision as having bicameral, bipartisan support. The groups’ letter “once again completely ignores the clear consumer benefits that flow from eliminating an outdated technology mandate that wastes energy and adds unnecessary costs to leased set-top boxes,” NCTA’s spokesman replied. “The fact that PK’s latest characterization falls so wide of the mark can only be interpreted as a conscious decision to remain willfully blind to the significant changes that have occurred in the video marketplace over the last decade, to ignore the harmful impact of technology mandates on innovation incentives, and to brazenly deny the manifest injustice of a rule that saddles cable customers with leased devices -- and cable customers alone -- with added costs for no appreciable benefit.” He called the provision “common sense” and said that it does not “disturb the underlying legal obligation to support separable security in retail devices and does not alter the market incentives that drive providers to expand the availability of its services.”

Dust still hadn't settled Thursday in several outstanding races following the Tuesday midterm elections. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, had not yet conceded. Begich was down by more than three points in his re-election fight against Republican Dan Sullivan. Begich is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and has been active on rural broadband and USF issues. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is locked in tight race against Republican consultant Ed Gillespie that has not formally been called, although Warner has maintained a slight lead and is widely considered victorious. The California 17th District House race had also not yet been called. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., has led in the polls against Ro Khanna, also a Democrat and former deputy assistant secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is still trying to nail down whether it's possible to hold a hearing on pay-TV industry bill practices this year. McCaskill is chairwoman of the Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommittee and said months ago that she hoped to hold a hearing this year if possible. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., endorsed the idea of such a hearing at a September markup session and said McCaskill should lead it. But staffers are still looking at the calendar and assessing when and if such a hearing is possible later this month or December, a Democratic Senate staffer told us. Congress returns for the lame-duck session Nov. 12.

Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., is planning a letter to the FCC on rural TV programming. His office circulated a Dear Colleague letter asking for other lawmakers to sign on by Nov. 18. “Internet speeds and access continue to grow, and consumers have more cable channels and online media options,” said Smith’s draft of the letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “However, access to these opportunities remains a challenge for many -- particularly the mostly rural Americans not yet reached by the fastest broadband and seniors who continue to access video content solely through television.” The FCC should “remain mindful of the challenges faced by rural Americans as you consider issues before the Commission,” the draft said. “We remain committed to working with you to ensure all Americans have the opportunity to access the content most relevant to their work, families, and communities.”