Senate Homeland Security Leaders Bid to Expand Rip and Replace Funding

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich., filed the Ensuring Network Security Act Tuesday to expand eligibility for funding to help U.S. communications providers remove Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security. Congress originally established the program in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998). The Ensuring Network Security Act would make providers who have up to 10 million customers eligible for "rip and replace" funding. HR-4998 originally limited the funding to cover companies with up to 2 million customers (see 2003040056). "In our increasingly connected world, it is imperative that 100% of our communications networks are secure, and this bill will help accomplish that," Johnson said in a news release. FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield and Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry praised the measure, in the Johnson release.