Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday he plans to begin work to review all federal broadband funding programs in a bid to hold executive branch agencies accountable for their disbursal of money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other measures. “To ensure rural communities have access to these services, it is critical for federal agencies to efficiently spend funds on the areas that need it the most,” he said: “Every federal dollar that has been spent should go toward the stated purpose of expanding connectivity to truly unserved areas. Congressional oversight has been noticeably absent in these areas, and there is serious concern that the federal government would repeat previous mistakes where agencies’ gross mismanagement of broadband funds fell on the backs of taxpayers across the country. It is time for Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities and hold the government accountable to hardworking taxpayers.” House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said oversight of federal broadband money outlays will be a major component of Commerce Committee oversight once the GOP reclaims the majority in January (see 2210310073). A sample letter Thune’s office released Tuesday would press entities to provide information by Jan. 6 on the “organization’s comments on the current broadband regulatory structure and your organization’s priorities” for federal money. Thune’s IIJA-specific questions include whether an entity believes “NTIA followed Congress’ intent in establishing a technology-neutral approach” to the measure’s funding and whether Congress should “consider amending the IIJA statute to make it more explicit that all technologies are allowed to participate.” He also focuses on NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program grants. Senate Commerce Committee Republicans criticized NTIA’s plans for rolling out the BEAD money during a June hearing (see 2206090072).

The House passed an amended version of the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (S-198) Tuesday 380-46 as part of an en bloc package. The measure and previous House-passed companion HR-1218 (see 2204050066) would require the FCC to include data on certain maternal health outcomes in its broadband health mapping tool. The Senate passed S-198 in March (see 2203030037). The U.S. “has the highest rate of maternal mortality among the developed nations -- a sad and inexcusable reality,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., after the vote. “That’s why today the House continued its work to address this crisis by passing” S-198 “to integrate maternal health data, including mortality and severe morbidity, into” the FCC’s “health mapping platform.” The measure “will help us better understand the telehealth and telecommunications barriers too many women face so that we can adopt informed, robust connectivity policies that keep Americans safe and healthy,” the Democratic lawmakers said.

Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker raised concerns Saturday about reports from Communications Daily and other media outlets that defeated 2022 Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams may be a contender for an FCC seat if the Senate doesn’t confirm current commission nominee Gigi Sohn before the end of this Congress (see 2211300074). Abrams campaign spokesperson Michael Holloman partially countered those reports, saying in a statement the Georgia Democrat “has not applied for or sought out a position” at the FCC. Walker claimed if Democratic incumbent Senate Commerce Committee member Raphael Warnock wins a Tuesday runoff election, he will “keep voting against the people of Georgia and in support of his mentor” Abrams. “When I’m in” the Senate “I’ll fight to stop Stacey from ever coming to Washington,” Walker said. Incumbent Warnock has led Walker in most polls conducted since the Nov. 8 general election, including a 4 percentage point lead in a CNN survey released Friday. A Warnock win would give Democrats a 51-49 Senate majority at the start of the next Congress.

The House plans to vote as soon as Tuesday on an amended version of the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (S-198) under suspension of the rules. S-198 and previously House-passed companion HR-1218 (see 2204050066) would require the FCC to include data on certain maternal health outcomes in its broadband health mapping tool. The Senate passed S-198 in March (see 2203030037). The measure “seeks to help lawmakers, public health officials and the public at large to consider” whether “issues of connectivity and maternal health outcomes” can be considered “in tandem” and provide “a better idea” of “how connectivity and health data intersect,” House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during brief floor debate Monday. “This will help us better target telehealth services to vulnerable populations and communities at risk of maternal mortality and morbidity.”

The Orbital Sustainability Act (S-4814) and orbital debris issues drew only limited attention during a Thursday Senate Commerce Space Subcommittee hearing on the future of satellite-based earth observation. S-4814, which subpanel Chairman John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and ranking member Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., filed in September, would require the Commerce Department to work with the FCC and National Space Council to develop and promote standard practices for avoiding collisions and near hits between spacecraft in orbit (see 2209140062). Maxar CEO Dan Jablonsky praised the measure during the hearing, calling it a “great step in protecting and maintaining a sustainable space environment for the future.” Lummis later asked NASA Chief Scientist Kate Calvin about whether “growing amounts of orbital debris” pose a threat to the Landsat program. NASA agrees “it’s important to ensure that space is usable for years to come,” Calvin said: “Space debris and megaconstellations are an issue that needs to be addressed by U.S. leadership.”

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and panel Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., led filing Tuesday of the Rural Internet Improvement Act in a bid to bolster Agriculture Department broadband programs’ funding for rural areas. The measure would combine USDA’s traditional broadband loan and grant program and the ReConnect program. It would also mandate that ReConnect funding goes only to areas in which 90% of households are unserved, and would make changes to the program’s challenge process. Thune’s office suggested the legislation is among his proposals for inclusion in the 2023 farm bill process. “Access to these broadband services is typically determined by where you live, which often leaves rural communities in the dust,” Thune said. “Our bipartisan legislation would help bridge the digital divide by improving” ReConnect “to ensure its funding goes to truly unserved areas.” The bill would “make USDA programs more efficient and ensure that unserved communities receive the investments they need,” Lujan said. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., signed on as original co-sponsors. Thune’s office cited support from the American Farm Bureau Federation, NCTA, NTCA and other agriculture groups.

Fifty state and territorial broadcasters' associations urged Senate leaders to bring up the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (S-673) for a floor vote during the lame-duck session. The measure, which the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared in September (see 2209220077), would create a limited antitrust exemption to allow news publishers to collectively bargain with tech platforms for the use of their content. The House Judiciary Committee hasn't voted on companion HR-1735. "We understand that there is precious little legislative time left on the Senate calendar before the end of" this Congress "and that there are a number of competing legislative priorities," the groups said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released Tuesday. "However," S-673 "is urgently needed by local broadcasters and other news publishers so that they can continue to serve local communities around the country. Therefore, whether on its own or with a package of other legislation addressing other aspects of Big Tech market dominance, we urge you to bring this bipartisan bill before the full Senate before the end of the year." Broadcasters "provide an invaluable resource to local communities around the country," but "the major tech behemoths are threatening the survival of local broadcasters and other news publishers throughout American communities," the broadcasters said: "These behemoths have grown to massive sizes, and have gained enormous market power. They have upended the advertising marketplace and, in many cases, have devised anticompetitive practices to protect it." S-673 "is an urgently needed first step toward countering Big Tech’s market dominance," the groups said.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and three other lawmakers praised the FCC's approval last week of an order to implement the Secure Equipment Act by banning authorization of gear from companies including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua Technology (see 2211230065). The other three lawmakers who hailed the FCC Monday were House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. "This new rule will help ensure that critical American infrastructure is protected from Chinese exploitation," Rubio said. "In our digitally connected world, these protections are essential to ensuring that our communications networks are safe and secure," Markey said. The action "finally starts to confront the significant threat China poses to Americans’ privacy and data security interests," Scalise said. Eshoo noted her push "for over a decade to address vulnerabilities in our telecommunications infrastructure that directly impact our national security. Equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party, increases the vulnerabilities of our telecommunication systems and puts the privacy and safety of Americans at risk."

TikTok may have provided misleading or false information during a bipartisan meeting with House staff in September, House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., wrote the company in a letter Tuesday. They cited reports (see 2210210072) that TikTok is “actively embedding trackers across the internet to gather Americans’ search data and using the app to track specific location data of designated targets.” The company provided “potentially false or misleading information with bipartisan Committee staff” during a Sep. 7 briefing, they wrote: That includes claims that TikTok doesn’t track users across the internet while they’re not using the app and that China-based employees don’t have access to specific location data for U.S. users. It’s unclear if the company’s reported plans included “tracking U.S. government officials, journalists, or other public figures,” they wrote. “If true, these reports are deeply concerning and provide significant evidence that TikTok may have made misleading statements during its briefing with bipartisan Committee staff.”

Sen. Steve Daines of Montana led a Tuesday letter with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and five other Senate Republicans urging NTIA to allow states to use their broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program grants to pay for unlicensed wireless service, which the agency’s notice of funding opportunity guidance doesn’t currently allow (see 2205130054). “It is our hope that NTIA will issue further guidance to states and territories so that they have ample flexibility to consider locations with access to broadband services provided exclusively over unlicensed spectrum as served,” the senators wrote NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “We encourage NTIA to revise the NOFO’s definition of reliable broadband service to include broadband provided exclusively over unlicensed spectrum.” Different “states, regions, communities and differing terrain will require different solutions” to improve broadband connectivity, the Republicans said: “Removing options off the table will result in communities being left behind. Solutions that work in urban areas may not work in rural America where farms and homes can be miles apart. Likewise, what works in flat terrain, may not work well in mountainous areas. It is important that NTIA allow all broadband providers and technology to compete in order to ensure that we finally close the digital divide.” NTIA didn’t comment.