House OKs Conference NDAA With Anti-Huawei/ZTE Provisions; Senate Votes Monday

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set a Monday cloture vote on the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (S-1790), which includes language targeting Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The House approved the measure Wednesday 377-48. The House and Senate Armed Services committees released the conference text earlier this week after months of work to blend (see 1907220053) the Senate and House-passed (HR-2500) measures. The conference NDAA includes a modified version of House-side anti-Huawei language originally sought by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., that would modify conditions for the Commerce Department to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security’s addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). It would require Huawei to prove it “sufficiently resolved or settled” supply chain security issues that led to its inclusion on the BIS entity list (see 1905160081). Commerce has since approved export licenses (see 1911210027) for U.S. companies to have their products included in Huawei's equipment. The bill also includes Gallagher’s proposal to direct the president to report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). The measure includes a Senate-cleared proposal from Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., that would require the director of national intelligence report the extent “global and regional adoption” of foreign-made 5G technology affects U.S. national security. The study would look at how the nation's “strategy to reduce foreign influence and political pressure in international standard-setting bodies” could help mitigate the threat. The NDAA includes language from the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act, which would give the federal government sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and preempt state and local governments' role (see 1802070052). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, filed the bill in response to the January 2018 false missile emergency alert in Hawaii (see 1801160054). NDAA conferees agreed to remove Senate-cleared language telling DOD to work with the FCC and NTIA to establish a spectrum sharing R&D program. House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and others raised concerns about the language because they believe it could undermine NTIA’s role in making spectrum allocation decisions for the federal government (see 1909180048). The conference text also doesn’t include House-cleared language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act. HR-1629/S-1015 would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to "protective service occupations" (see 1904050054).