Three Senate Democrats slammed a government surveillance loophole that an intelligence official confirmed in the last week. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Friday confirming that “there have been queries, using U.S. person identifiers, of communications lawfully acquired to obtain foreign intelligence by targeting non U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the U.S. pursuant to Section 702 of” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (http://1.usa.gov/1hB7yCL). That statutory authority has widely been seen to target non-citizen communications outside the U.S. The “admission by the Director of National Intelligence is further proof that meaningful surveillance reform must include closing the back-door searches loophole and requiring the intelligence community to show probable cause before deliberately searching through data collected under section 702 to find the communications of individual Americans,” said Wyden and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., in a joint statement Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1hBiGj0). “The revelation that -- despite the clear intent of Section 702 to target foreign communications -- the government is deliberating [sic] searching for the phone calls or emails of specific Americans and circumventing traditional warrant protections should be concerning to all.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also slammed the news in a separate statement, saying such loopholes “cannot be tolerated” and are “an outrage.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has actively alerted the public to this surveillance practice in the last week, tweeting out on Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1pRJEnc) the same declassified government report that Clapper referred to in his letter.

Front groups for the broadcast and pay-TV industries trumpeted what they saw as victories in statements following the Tuesday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing (CD April 2 p4) on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization. The American Television Alliance, representing pay-TV interests, lauded key Democrats who “recognize that now is the time to act to update our video rules,” it said in a statement. “Consumers should not have to wait several more years for new rules, especially given that those rules may be outdated by the time they are actually made law. STELA provides an immediate opportunity to help protect consumers.” TVFreedom, representing various broadcaster interests and preferring a clean STELA reauthorization, issued a statement praising Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., for her attacks during the hearing on pay-TV billing practices. The billing experience McCaskill has encountered, wherein she discovered extra charges applied to her bill that she should not have had to pay, “infuriates” her, she said, asking witnesses from the FCC and DirecTV about the billing and what can be done. McCaskill doubts STELA will encounter any “smooth sailing” through the Senate, she said.

The FY 2015 budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., seeks to “limit the federal government’s role” in the telecom industry, “curbing corporate welfare” delivered to it, said Ryan’s broad outline released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1jUccyW). It cited revenue benefits of electromagnetic spectrum. The plan proposes cutting $5.1 trillion over the next decade but gives little specific breakdown in funding for different government agencies in 2015. “The resolution calls for $27.9 billion in budget authority as well as outlays in fiscal year 2015,” it said. “Of that total, discretionary spending in fiscal year 2015 totals $27.8 billion in budget authority and $27.8 billion in outlays. Mandatory spending in 2015 is $100 million in budget authority and $98 million in outlays.” Ryan plans to mark up the bill (http://1.usa.gov/Pef7oy) Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in 210 Cannon. The White House released its $3.9 trillion FY 2015 budget last month.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is “close to an agreement” on a compromise version of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) “and I expect to begin discussion on this at the mark up on Thursday,” Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement Tuesday. The committee is supposed to examine S-1720 as part of its executive business meeting Thursday. Leahy’s statement followed an Internet Association webcast Tuesday in which Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’s “hopeful” the committee might mark up S-1720 as early as next week. The committee appears to be “really, really close to a bipartisan agreement that could pass the Senate,” Schumer said. The committee first discussed ongoing negotiations on the bill last week (CD March 28 p12). Schumer has been a proponent of including an expansion of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s covered business method patent review program, but said Tuesday his main goal “is to get a good bill done. I'm not wedded to any one way to do it.” Leahy cautioned that he’s hopeful the committee can mark up S-1720 Thursday, but the compromise that will take the form of a manager’s amendment “will be significant so we may need additional time for drafting and for members to review it. If we cannot report the bill this Thursday, we will reconvene the mark up on Tuesday morning.” Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he was concerned Congress would “do more harm than good” to the U.S. patent system by rushing to pass legislation aimed at curbing abusive patent litigation. Massie was one of 91 House members who voted against the House-passed Innovation Act (HR-3309) back in December. That bill was “rushed through,” with House leaders only allowing four hours to file amendments to the bill before the vote, he said.

Top House Republicans want stakeholders’ thoughts on spectrum policy as part of a proposed Communications Act overhaul. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., released on Tuesday the second in what they say will be a series of white papers addressing a possible update to the Communications Act (http://1.usa.gov/1iW0LTX). The five-page document offered a history of U.S. spectrum policy and posed several questions. “What structural changes, if any, should be made to the FCC to promote efficiency and predictability in spectrum licensing?” a question asked. Another asked about the role of unlicensed spectrum and another about spectrum efficiency. One questioned a purported spectrum shortage and wondered how to expand the amount of commercially available spectrum. “What principles should Congress and the FCC consider when addressing spectrum aggregation limits?” the lawmakers asked. “How has the converging marketplace and growing demand for services changed the discussion of spectrum aggregation?” Responses are due April 15. Future white papers “will each focus on a specific issue related to our effort to ensure our laws correspond with the innovation era,” Upton and Walden said in a joint statement.

The spectrum legislation that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., reintroduced would create a Federal Spectrum Reallocation Commission composed of nine members, appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The membership would include not more than one Commerce Department employee, not more than one Defense Department employee, not fewer than one carrier representative and not fewer than one representative of a standard-setting body. The bill text of the Maximizing Spectrum Efficiency and Value Act of 2014 runs 50 pages (http://1.usa.gov/1ghddcz). S-2155 was reintroduced last week. The full text was not then available at that time. The commission would be charged with making recommendations on reallocating spectrum. This proposal mirrors past legislative efforts, specifically that of HR-4044, introduced by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., which failed in 2012. Kirk had joined him in introducing a Senate companion then. The new legislation has no co-sponsors and was referred to the Commerce Committee, where Kirk is not a member.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is to again consider the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) at an executive business meeting Thursday. The committee delayed consideration of the bill at its meeting last week because negotiations had not yet resulted in a deal on a manager’s amendment that would serve as a compromise version of the bill (CD March 28 p12). The meeting is to begin at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith and NCTA CEO Michael Powell will both testify on the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization Tuesday. They are witnesses at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, starting at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Also testifying are Bill Lake, chief of the FCC Media Bureau, DirecTV Executive Vice President Michael Palkovic, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers and Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood.

NARUC backs a push from Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., to make the FCC create an easily accessible online database of consumer complaints, it said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1hiXluu). Nelson and Udall had sent FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler a letter last week pressing the issue. Wheeler, in a budget subcommittee hearing before Udall Thursday (CD March 28 p2), agreed it’s a great idea but lamented the terrible IT state of the agency, asking for more money.

Comcast Senior Vice President David Cohen will testify at the April 9 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable, he said. “I will be the Comcast witness at that hearing,” Cohen said during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, which was to be telecast Saturday. “We've been to this rodeo a few times before. We thoroughly respect the role that Congress has and its oversight role of the Justice Department and the FCC.” Comcast sees it as an opportunity “to make our case” for why the deal should be approved, Cohen added. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen, and witnesses haven’t been announced by the committee.