Hearings & Legislation
Cruz, Thune Lead on Spectrum
By James Erwin It’s finally here. Shortly after the one-year anniversary of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority expiring on due to congressional inaction, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Thune (R-S.D.) introduced a bill to remedy this dysfunction. The short, five-page bill would finally restore the FCC’s auction authority until September 30,…
The Senate Should Pass the House Spectrum Bill
Without Congressional reauthorization, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will lose its general spectrum auction authority at the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Congress has never allowed this to happen, and it should not do so now. Taking the initiative, the House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a…
FCC Oversight Hearing: American Broadband Survived the Pandemic, Don’t Kill It with Misdirected Subsidies
By Rich Sill The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on FCC oversight on March 31. This was the first time under the Biden administration that all four FCC commissioners were called to testify to the committee. At the hearing, FCC Chairwoman…
Second Hearing for FCC Nominee Gigi Sohn Raises Concerns
by Rich Sill The Senate Commerce Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held an unusual second hearing on the nomination of Gigi B. Sohn to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, February 9th. The first took place in December 2021, but new information concerning a recusal agreement…
Senate Commerce Tackles Biden Telecom Picks
Today the Senate Commerce Committee held a markup and nomination hearing to consider multiple of Biden’s nominations for key positions in the Department of Commerce, the FCC and others who will be instrumental in implementing the administration’s telecommunications policies. First Round: Votes! The Committee began with a vote on…
Congress Pays Lip Service to Consumer Data Privacy
By: Katie McAuliffe The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing entitled “Protecting Consumer Privacy”. This was the first hearing Congress held about this issue in 9 months. The hearing came at a pertinent time with the Federal Trade Commission recently announcing…
INFORM Consumers Act Violates Personal Privacy
By: Bridget Visconti The goal of the INFORM Consumers Act is to increase transparency and accountability of businesses in order to cut down on the online sales of counterfeit or stolen goods, which is admirable, but the methodology for doing so is deeply flawed. This is a very important…
Endless Pork Act
By Bridget Visconti The Endless Frontier Act is truly endless being over 1,445 pages in length. The legislation started as a standalone bill that focused on strengthening the US technology sector and developing a Technology Directorate under the National Science Foundation. However, it’s now been combined with multiple…
Antitrust Hearing: Mark Missed Again
By: Noah Vehafric On Thursday, February 25, the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law held a hearing entitled “Reviving Competition, Part 1: Proposals to Address Gatekeeper Power and Lower Barriers to Entry Online”. As the name suggests, it’s the first part of a series of hearings looking…