The House's election Wednesday of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as speaker drew praise from broadcasters and other communications sector stakeholders. The chamber voted 220-209 along party lines for Johnson over Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Johnson was the Republicans' fourth nominee after Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota (see 2310240039). Johnson, a former conservative radio host, is a past Republican Study Committee chairman. His “leadership will be vital as the House returns to work to confront the numerous challenges we face as a country,” said NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a statement. Johnson “has consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of the vital role broadcasters play in our communities. We look forward to continuing to work together to advance policies that support the lifeline service and trusted journalism broadcasters provide to the public.” Broadband “providers congratulate” Johnson “as we continue our work together to eliminate roadblocks to deployment so we can connect all communities as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter. Johnson participated in a June amicus brief from Republican lawmakers in support of the petitioners in Loper Bright v. Raimondo urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the contemporary Chevron deference doctrine (see 2307240050).

A 25% cut to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s $3 billion budget would be “catastrophic,” and foreign adversaries would exploit federal agencies, CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric Goldstein told House Homeland Security Committee members Wednesday. More than 100 House Republicans in September unsuccessfully tried to cut CISA’s budget by 25%. President Joe Biden’s $3 billion request for fiscal 2024 is an increase of about 18% from the $2.6 billion enacted for fiscal 2022 and an increase of about 5% from the $2.9 billion enacted for 2023. During a House Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, ranking member Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., asked Goldstein about the potential for a government shutdown and the 25% cut. A “significant cut to our budget would be catastrophic,” said Goldstein. CISA wouldn’t be able to sustain core functions across the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program and Shared Cybersecurity Services, he said: Collaboration with federal agencies would drop off, and adversaries would “exploit those gaps.” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Goldstein he has never heard a bureaucrat say a significant budget cut wouldn’t be “catastrophic,” regardless of whether it’s 25% or 5%. “Sometimes you can sustain some cuts if you look deep enough,” said Gimenez. “It seems to me that whatever you do, however secure you think you’re going to be, someone’s always going to crack you. Am I off on that? Someone’s always going to find a way, if they really want to, to get through the system. Is that true or not true?” Goldstein said cybercriminals are “opportunistic,” and adversaries “want to find a network to break into.” If CISA can make it “as hard as possible” to breach the most important agencies, adversaries will shift their focus, he said. If there’s a government shutdown, Goldstein said, CISA can maintain its core functions, but strategic and systematic work to engage agencies to deploy technology “will be on hold.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota dropped out Tuesday as the Republican caucus' nominee for speaker just hours after the conference selected him at the end of five rounds of voting that revealed ongoing divisions within the party. Twenty-six Republicans indicated during the caucus meeting they wouldn’t vote for Emmer on the floor, including 15 who committed to instead back former GOP nominee and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio (see 2310200067). Reports Tuesday afternoon indicated Emmer dropped out of the running after former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Emmer was a “RINO,” the acronym for “Republican in name only.” Emmer formed the Congressional Broadcasters Caucus in 2020 and last year pressed the FCC to better explain its proposed regulatory fee increase for that industry (see 2208150055). House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington made the speech nominating the runner-up against Emmer, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. House Commerce member Gary Palmer of Alabama (see 2310230061) withdrew as a contender before the Republicans began voting.

House Commerce Committee member Gary Palmer of Alabama announced Sunday he would seek the Republican caucus’ speaker nomination, a race that will pit him against Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and seven other candidates. Palmer and the other hopefuls were expected to speak Monday afternoon at a caucus meeting. The Republicans will vote Tuesday on a new nominee to replace Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, whose candidacy ended last week (see 2310200067). Palmer, who joined House Commerce in the last Congress, led filing in 2021 of the Standard Fees to Expedite Evaluation and Streamlining Act, one of the Republicans’ package of broadband permitting measures (see 2102160067).

Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., urged the FCC to act on its “long-standing pole attachment proceeding” looking at a 2020 NCTA petition for clarification on pole replacements in unserved areas (see 2007170023). The commission issued a declaratory ruling in 2021 that didn’t act on the petition but clarified that charging the entire cost of a pole replacement to a requesting attacher when the attacher isn't the sole cause of the replacement is “unreasonable and inconsistent” with the Communications Act Section 224 (see 2101190027). The FCC also has an open further NPRM on pole attachment rules it began in 2022 (see 2207130057). The “record is complete and the time is right for the Commission to act in a unanimous fashion,” Capito said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that circulated Friday. In “hard to serve regions of the country, broadband networks are dependent on access to an existing and long established network of utility poles,” but “the process for obtaining timely and reasonable access to poles is too often obstructed due to a number of factors such as workforce shortages and pole owners that are seeking to offer broadband services and receive” federal funding, Capito said: “Absent prompt attention” from the FCC “to act quickly on pending issues before it” like the pole attachment proceeding, “likely will result in missed deadlines and timelines for network construction, as well as changes to deployment plans that will mean that millions of Americans without broadband will have to wait even longer.”

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced three FTC nominees to the Senate floor Wednesday via voice vote. Republican nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter were advanced after a brief committee discussion during markup (see 2310120018). Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., listed the credentials of all three and said Slaughter has proven herself a strong consumer advocate. Ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said all three are “well-qualified.” Bipartisanship has been a “defining characteristic” at the FTC, but Chair Lina Khan “abandoned that legacy in favor of a partisan, legally suspect agenda that has devastated employee morale in the process,” said Cruz. Holyoak and Ferguson will hopefully be a check on the majority’s agenda, said Cruz. He noted the committee hasn’t held an FTC oversight hearing during Khan’s tenure, which is “unacceptable.” The FTC continues to take an “unreasonably expansive view of its authorities under Chair Khan’s leadership that this committee has an obligation to ask her about,” he said. Khan in a statement Thursday congratulated all three nominees for the unanimous decision. “The FTC operates best at full strength, and I look forward to their swift approval by the full Senate,” she said. Cruz said he’s “hopeful” the FTC will host an oversight hearing soon, noting he had extensive conversations with Cantwell about it: As President Ronald “Reagan famously said, trust but verify.” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said it’s a concerted goal to get the nominees confirmed swiftly: “It depends on the schedule and what happens on the floor.”

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and two other panel Republicans filed the Eyes on the Board Act Wednesday in a bid to limit children's access to social media at school by requiring schools receiving federal E-rate and emergency connectivity fund money to ban access to platforms on subsidized services, devices and networks. The GOP senators filed the bill ahead of expected FCC approval Thursday of a declaratory ruling allowing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2310170054). Cruz and House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., first opposed the proposal in July (see 2307310063). The legislation would require schools receiving ECF and E-rate funding to adopt a screen time policy, similar to what the Children’s Internet Protection Act already requires. It would direct the FCC to create a database of schools’ internet safety policies. “Addictive and distracting social media apps are inviting every evil force on the planet into kids’ classrooms, homes, and minds by giving those who want to abuse or harm children direct access to communicate with them online,” Cruz said: “The very least we can do is restrict access to social media at school so taxpayer subsidies aren’t complicit in harming our children.” Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia were the bill’s other co-sponsors. Senate Commerce Republicans cited support from the American College of Pediatricians, America First Policy Institute and other groups.

The Senate Communications Subcommittee rescheduled an anti-robocall hearing for Oct. 24, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The hearing will “examine how robocallers are evading enforcement, consider public-private efforts to combat illegal robocalls and investigate what next steps are needed to protect Americans from fraudulent and illegal text messages and calls,” Senate Commerce said. The panel postponed the hearing, originally planned for Oct. 3, amid reshuffling to accommodate senators who wanted to attend the funeral for former Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. USTelecom Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Josh Bercu and YouMail Chief Technology Officer Mike Rudolph are among those set to testify. Also on the witness list: Wiley’s Megan Brown on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Consumer Law Center Senior Attorney Margot Saunders. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

The prospects that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republicans’ nominee for speaker (see 2310130071), would prevail in his bid to lead the chamber remained in doubt Tuesday, prolonging the weekslong halt of the chamber’s agenda. Jordan got only 200 of the 220 present GOP members’ votes on the floor. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York got all 212 Democrats’ votes, and the other 20 Republicans voted for McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalese of Louisiana or five other GOP members. Further voting rounds were scheduled for early evening.

USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter urged the House and Senate intelligence committees' leaders Monday to “pay special attention to the FCC’s mission creep into the cybersecurity space” because of the draft net neutrality NPRM reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 2309280084). Further FCC involvement in cybersecurity “will lead to confusion and conflicts over which committee and agency has jurisdiction in specific cyber-related matters,” Spalter said in a letter to Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and the panels’ ranking members. “This will create legal and regulatory uncertainty, hampering effective national security oversight and cooperation. It could also lead to redundancy and fragmentation of efforts, making it harder to coordinate and implement a cohesive security strategy and respond quickly to emerging threats.” There’s “nothing in the Communications Act or any other statute that gives the FCC general authority to impose prescriptive cybersecurity regulations on ISPs,” Spalter said.