Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and ranking member Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pressed AT&T and data cloud company Snowflake Tuesday for information by July 29 on an April data breach that exposed call and text records for nearly all of AT&T’s wireless customers from mid-2022 (see 2407120033). “AT&T customers, including businesses and government entities, should be deeply concerned about this theft of private information about their communications,” Blumenthal and Hawley said in letters to AT&T CEO John Stankey and Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy. “There is no reason to believe that AT&T’s sensitive data will not also be auctioned and fall into the hands of criminals and foreign intelligence agencies.” The breach “appears to have been easily preventable,” the lawmakers said: “While Snowflake, AT&T, and other clients have avoided taking direct responsibility, according to Mandiant, it appears that the cybercrime group behind the breaches obtained companies’ passwords from malware infections, including malware bundled with pirated software.” Blumenthal and Hawley also raised concerns about recent data breaches involving other Snowflake clients, including Ticketmaster. AT&T has “received the letter from Sens. Blumenthal and Hawley and will be responding to them,” a spokesperson emailed. Snowflake didn’t immediately comment.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is urging that the FCC “act expeditiously” on its Further NPRM eyeing dynamic sharing in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band “while continuing to maintain an evidence-based approach in this proceeding.” Sharing advocates are hoping for FCC action this year (see 2312270045). The FCC “has a unique near-term opportunity to expand broadband access, improve the distribution of spectrum resources, and put our spectrum to its most efficient use, especially in rural areas of the country,” Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Commerce committees, said in a Friday letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Comm Daily obtained a copy of the letter. “In particular, if the Commission determines that fixed broadband operations can coexist in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band without harmful interference with incumbent users, the Commission should move swiftly to permit such use, particularly as the federal government deploys additional resources to close the digital divide.” Sullivan praised the FCC for “rigorous and forward-thinking work in allocating these resources, including assessing competing interference claims. I encourage the Commission to continue conducting objective analyses regarding interference claims, including in this proceeding.”

Former President Donald Trump’s selection of Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate puts a backer of additional funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program on the presidential ticket of a party that has many members who criticized the initiative. Vance is lead Senate GOP co-sponsor of the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) and subsequent Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act (S-4317). Both propose giving the affordability program billions of dollars in stopgap funding for FY 2024 (see 2401100056). Vance also helped lead an unsuccessful bid to include $6 billion in ACP funding in May as part of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405090052). Vance, a freshman senator, opposed former-FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and Commissioner Anna Gomez during their confirmation processes last year (see 2307120073).

The FTC and DOJ should investigate the AI-related dominance of companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote the agencies Friday. The largest tech companies are entrenching their dominance in the “nascent generative AI industry” through “partnerships, equity deals, acquisitions, cloud computing credits, and other arrangements,” they wrote. It’s good the FTC and DOJ are probing the AI ecosystem, but “it has become clear that sustained, pointed action is necessary to fight undue consolidation across the industry.” The legislators called for an investigation of a recent deal between Amazon and AI startup Adept and how Amazon avoided potential agency oversight. “This strategic deal is the latest in a string of arrangements among tech firms that have created an entire generative AI industry centered around massive consolidation,” Wyden’s office said. The agencies confirmed receiving the letters but declined comment.

The House Education and Workforce Committee advanced an amended version of the Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (911 Saves) Act (HR-6319), drawing criticism from the National Emergency Number Association and APCO. HR-6319 and the similar Enhancing First Response Act (S-3556) would reclassify public safety call takers and dispatchers as a protective service. A substitute amendment from Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer, R-Ore., requires the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics “consider establishing a separate code for public safety telecommunicators as a subset of protective service occupations” instead of mandating the reclassification. House Education also approved by voice vote an amendment from ranking member David Scott, D-Va., to extend the timeline for BLS to report back on considering the reclassification from 30 days to 60. NENA and APCO are “disappointed that this version of [HR-6319] strays from the language of previous iterations” by not mandating the proposed reclassification, the groups said in a joint statement. They “commend the comments from [House Education] members expressing support for 9-1-1 professionals' service to our communities. We look forward to working with” lawmakers “to ensure that 9-1-1 professionals are recognized for the highly skilled, specialized, life-saving work they do every day.”

Republican ex-FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly marked the death of former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., noting he respected the lawmaker's opposition to the commission approving Ligado’s L-band plan even though it prompted Inhofe placing a July 2020 hold on O'Rielly's reconfirmation (see 2007280039). Then-President Donald Trump withdrew O’Rielly’s renomination less than a week later for unrelated reasons (see 2008040061). “People suspect I was angered by his hold on my nomination years ago,” O’Rielly said. “To the contrary, I respected his engagement and views on a tough issue.” Inhofe, 89, died Tuesday.

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday it expects the FCC would need $4 million to implement the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820) in fiscal years 2024-2029. HR-820 would require the agency to publish a list of communications companies holding FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China and other foreign adversaries’ governments possess 10% or more ownership. The House Commerce Committee advanced the measure in March (see 2403200076). The FCC “would need five employees, at an annual cost of $200,000 per employee, for the first two years, to review existing grants of authority, and two employees after 2026 to review new applications and changes in ownership,” CBO said. “However, because the FCC is authorized to collect fees each year sufficient to offset the appropriated costs of its regulatory activities, CBO estimates that the net cost to the FCC would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.”

The House Communications Subcommittee rescheduled a postponed hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 budget request for Tuesday, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The subpanel previously planned the hearing for early May (see 2405030068). “The U.S. maintains some of the most preeminent broadband networks in the world,” said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R- Wash., and Communications Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “This has resulted in lower costs and faster, more reliable services to Americans that have helped cement American innovation and leadership in next-generation technologies. Our networks have benefitted from a light-touch regulatory approach, which has allowed them to adapt and thrive. Unfortunately, recent actions by the FCC, including burdensome new regulations, threaten that light-touch system and people’s access to these critical services.” The House Appropriations Committee's FY 2025 funding bill for the FCC, which it advanced last month (see 2406140054), proposes increasing the commission's budget to $416 million but would bar the agency from using funds to enforce its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders.

The House Appropriations Committee plans to mark up the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY 2025 funding bill Tuesday and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY25 measure July 10. CJS advanced its funding bill last week with allocation decreases for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and DOJ's Antitrust Division (see 2406260057). LHHS moved its FY25 measure without advance FY 2027 funding for CPB (see 2406270059). House Appropriations said Tuesday its July 9 CJS markup will begin at 9 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn. The LHHS markup will occur at the same time and location July 10.

The DOJ should expedite its review of allegations that TikTok violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers wrote Tuesday (see 2406180070). Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., along with Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Kathy Castor, D-Fla., sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the DOJ “expeditiously” review the FTC’s referral of a complaint against TikTok for potential COPPA violations. Five years after the company settled with the FTC over alleged COPPA violations, “TikTok is still failing to comply with COPPA,” the lawmakers wrote. “Given TikTok's previous violations of COPPA ... we urge the Department to expeditiously investigate these allegations and take all necessary action to protect children's online privacy." The lawmakers cited the surgeon general’s recent announcement linking social media use with a youth mental health crisis as one reason for an expedited review (see: 2406170059). Markey also urged passage of his and Cassidy’s Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). Walberg and Castor introduced a House version of the measure in April.