The House passed the Protecting Veteran Access to Telemedicine Services Act (HR-1107) Monday on a voice vote. The refiled measure would permanently extend a temporary exemption first enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic that allows Department of Veterans Affairs health care professionals to use telehealth services to prescribe medically necessary controlled substances to veterans under certain conditions.

The House Commerce Committee said Monday night that it plans to vote Wednesday on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979/S-315), as expected (see 2508080005). The bill would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology, mostly affecting electric vehicles. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced S-315 in February (see 2502100072). The bill’s supporters unsuccessfully tried to attach it to a December continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations (see Ref:2412180033]). House Commerce’s meeting Wednesday, which will also consider six other bills, will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

The House was set to vote as soon as Monday night under suspension of the rules to pass the Protecting Veteran Access to Telemedicine Services Act (HR-1107). The refiled measure would permanently extend a temporary exemption, first enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, to let Department of Veterans Affairs health care professionals use telehealth services to prescribe medically necessary controlled substances to veterans under certain conditions. Lawmakers have also long supported proposals to make permanent waivers allowing Medicare beneficiaries to use that money on telehealth services (see 2008170064).

The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing Thursday on 29 bills aimed at streamlining broadband permitting rules, many of which Republicans have filed in past Congresses and some they previously combined into the controversial American Broadband Deployment Act (see 2305240069). The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr pushed back against claims that Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., made last month about irregularities in the commission’s process for approving Skydance’s $8 billion purchase of Paramount Global (see 2508190053). “There has been a lot of misinformation spread about the FCC’s review of this transaction,” Carr said in a letter to Schiff dated Aug. 25 and posted Thursday. “Contrary to your suggestions, the FCC ran a standard review process for this transaction, and I am proud of the agency’s work.”

The House Appropriations Committee voted 34-28 Wednesday night to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s FY26 bill, which would cut NTIA’s annual funding, as expected (see 2509100065). The measure would drop NTIA’s annual appropriation to $47 million, which mirrors President Donald Trump’s funding request but would be 20% less than the agency got for FY 2024 and FY 2025 (see 2506020056 and 2403040083). House Appropriations CJS calls for giving the National Institute of Standards and Technology $1.28 billion, the Patent Office slightly less than $5 billion and the DOJ Antitrust Division $310 million.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned Wednesday that a provision in the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) would give the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to veto commercial use of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands. Cruz told an NTIA spectrum symposium (see 2509100051) that he will fight that provision in Section 1564 of the bill. “To be clear, this is not consultation or collaboration on spectrum management,” Cruz said.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and other Democrats used a Tuesday subpanel hearing on public safety communications issues (see 2509090062) as a forum to again lambaste Republicans for rescinding CPB’s FY 2026 and FY 2027 funding. CPB supporters unsuccessfully argued in July against Congress rescinding the money by citing public broadcasters’ role in transmitting emergency alerts (see 2507090062).

Two top House Commerce Committee members filed a pair of bills Monday aimed at increasing the reliability of U.S. emergency communications networks. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., refiled the Emergency Reporting Act and introduced the Kari’s Law Reporting Act. The Emergency Reporting Act would direct the FCC to issue reports and do field hearings after activating the disaster information reporting system. The Kari’s Law Reporting Act would mandate that the FCC report on the extent to which multi-line telephone system manufacturers and vendors are complying with the 2018 Kari’s Law requirement that such systems give direct access to 911 without the need to dial a prefix.

The House Appropriations Committee said Friday it plans to vote this week on FY 2026 funding bills covering NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies and omit further allocations for CPB. The panel will vote Tuesday on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s funding bill, which lacks language to restore any of the $1.1 billion in federal money for CPB that Congress clawed back in July via the 2025 Rescissions Act (see 2509030065). The meeting will begin at 11 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn.