House Commerce Examines Lift America Act as White House-Hill Infrastructure Talks Collapse

The House Commerce Committee moved forward with a Wednesday hearing on the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-2741) despite the simultaneous torpedoing of talks between President Donald Trump and top Capitol Hill Democrats on a plan to pay for additional spending on broadband and other infrastructure projects. HR-2741 would allocate $40 billion for broadband projects, offer $12 billion in grants for implementing next generation-911 technologies and $5 billion for federal funding of a loan and credit program for broadband projects. Democrats first filed the bill in 2017 (see 1706020056).

Trump quickly walked out of a Wednesday meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on infrastructure funding. The meeting was framed as a follow-up after a recent agreement between Trump and top Democrats to pursue $2 trillion in spending on infrastructure projects (see 1904300194). The communications sector hopes for more appetite for infrastructure legislation this year because Democrats regained the majority in the House in the 2018 election (see 1811130011).

Trump said during a news conference that he delivered an ultimatum to Pelosi and Schumer that he wouldn't negotiate with Hill Democrats on an infrastructure package or other legislation while House committees continued ongoing investigations into his administration. “I walked into the room and I told [the leaders] 'I want to do infrastructure' … but we can't do it under these circumstances,” Trump said. He blamed Pelosi for comments she made earlier in the day that Trump “is engaged in a cover-up” because he's blocked current and former White House aides from testifying or providing documents related to House probes. “I don't do cover-ups,” he said.

Pelosi and Schumer characterized the entire meeting plan as a ruse aimed at criticizing the ongoing investigations rather than a serious attempt to negotiate on infrastructure. “It's clear that this was not a spontaneous move on the president's part,” Schumer told reporters. “There were investigations going on three weeks ago when we met, and he still met with us” then.

Pelosi said the exercise is disrespectful to the process of “Congress and the White House working together” on policymaking. Trump “just took a pass … and it just makes me wonder why he did that,” she said.

'Push Forward'

“Obviously it's a bit of a setback” that talks collapsed “but I think there's a real feeling” among House Commerce members in both parties “that we'd like to do a major infrastructure bill, so we're just going to push forward and see where we go,” House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told reporters after the hearing. He said he didn't have a specific timeline for bringing up the measure for a markup.

Pallone said during the hearing HR-2741 isn't “the end-all” measure and he will “continue to entertain different legislation that other members” file. “We could obviously incorporate other legislation” into a final package, he said. “I'm going to be optimistic today.”

HR-2741 “takes bold steps to ensure a prosperous, fairer and safer tomorrow” on broadband and public safety communications, Pallone said. “For too long, we’ve heard stories of the sorry state of our nation’s digital infrastructure that is simply leaving too many communities behind,” including “kids living in urban broadband deserts that have no other choice than to walk to a nearby McDonald's late on a school night to access Wi-Fi just to do their homework. And we’ve heard the tragic calls to 911 of Americans that died during emergencies” because “the system couldn’t find them.”

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., praised HR-2741's NG-911 language, questioning how long it would take to fully deploy the technology around the U.S. absent the funding proposed in the bill. Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said there will be “lives lost” if NG-911 isn't fully deployed as envisioned. “Not addressing this and maintaining” the current 50-year-old 911 framework “doesn't allow us to be as safe as we need to be,” she said.

Other House Commerce Democrats generally praised HR-2741's broadband language, though many echoed Clyburn in calling for more robust language aimed at improving the accuracy of broadband coverage data. HR-2741 would require the FCC “consider other data on access to broadband” beyond the current broadband maps, including “publicly available data or information on State broadband deployment programs.”

Broadband Mapping

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., urged House Commerce to “tighten up” the broadband mapping language, saying lawmakers “need to get this right” given the frequent bipartisan ire they have directed at current data collection practices, most recently during House Communications' FCC oversight hearing (see 1905150061). Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H., was among those who also said they were interested in addressing mapping via the bill. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks urged the commission during a Wednesday Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide event to focus on improving its broadband maps instead of a USF Lifeline cap he believes will harm that program (see 1905220065).

House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and other Republicans also targeted the need for strong mapping provisions. McMorris Rodgers said she plans to soon file a House companion to the Senate-side Broadband Data Improvement Act (S-1522), which would direct federal funds to build out broadband infrastructure and require broadband providers to report more accurate data on the locations they serve to help improve the national broadband map (see 1905160087).

House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., cautioned that “just spending more money may not necessarily achieve what I believe to be our shared infrastructure goals.” Walden cited the 2009 stimulus bill, which he said “put the cart before the horse when it came to spending on broadband deployment without adequate mapping to know exactly what parts of the country needed the most help. I offered an amendment at the time to correct this concern, but it was rejected. Instead, we didn't get the maps until after the money was allocated.”

House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and others cited the importance of improving coordination between the FCC, NTIA and the Agriculture Department on their broadband funding programs as part of any infrastructure package. Latta cited House passage earlier this month of the Advancing Critical Connectivity Expands Service, Small Business Resources, Opportunities, Access and Data Based on Assessed Need and Demand (Access Broadband) Act (HR-1328) as a sign of the importance of improving coordination but wondered whether Congress should target coordination “in a more pronounced way.” HR-1328 and Senate companion S-1046 would establish the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within NTIA (see 1904050059).

Walden and House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., raised concerns during the hearing about misinformation being fueled by Russia and others about the safety of 5G signals. “In Portland, Oregon, right now somebody's going around putting up stickers on lamp posts saying that 5G is a hazard to your health that look like they're official,” Walden said. He also cited a recent report that Russian network RT America has been fueling a disinformation campaign on the health effects of 5G.

“We have to win” the race to lead on 5G deployments “and I think this is worthy of us taking a look at what's going on” with misinformation about the technology's health effects, Walden said. DeGette said she agrees with Walden on the widespread disinformation campaign, saying “it's in Denver, it's everywhere.” She called for a House Commerce Oversight hearing on the issue. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., earlier this month to assuage concerns about 5G RF emissions (see 1905100072).

Reps. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., meanwhile, filed their Rural Broadband Network Advancement Act. The bill would establish a new FCC program that would collect user fees from edge providers based on data transported over the last mile of ISPs' networks and use that money to fund rural broadband providers. “This legislation will ensure high cost, rural areas are not stranded and rural Americans are not left behind in the Internet economy,” Mullin said in a news release. NTCA hopes the bill “will spark a much-needed national conversation and ultimately lead to results ensuring both that rural Americans can participate meaningfully and effectively in all that our online world has to offer, and that web-centric businesses can continue to rely upon the availability of cutting-edge and evolving broadband networks in delivering their products in rural America,” said CEO Shirley Bloomfield in a statement.