Cantwell Sees Local News as Infrastructure; Senate GOP Eyes Broadband

Senators in both parties continued to emphasize the importance of communications sector interests in an eventual infrastructure spending package Thursday, as talks continued on the scope of such legislation. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said during a Communications Subcommittee hearing that she’s going to push for local media outlets to receive some funding in a final infrastructure bill. Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans said they’re committed to including broadband language in a planned counterproposal to President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package (see 2104140069).

Cantwell said she wants Congress to factor local broadcasters and newspapers into “this critical infrastructure investment we’re making,” citing their importance in “delivering key health information” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was “really critical” that Congress expanded local broadcasters’ and other news outlets’ eligibility to receive funding from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program in the December FY 2021 appropriations and pandemic aid package (see 2012210055), she said. “I think local news” remains “frayed beyond belief, and if we don't shore it up, at least till the legal battles play out with the tech industry, then we’ll be making a big mistake.”

NAB CEO Gordon Smith told Cantwell he “completely” believes Congress should consider local media a form of infrastructure worthy of including in a larger package. There’s “no platform quite like broadcasting” that’s able to “reach well above” 90% “of the American people” and is more trusted to deliver accurate information, he said. Long-standing advertising revenue “is drying up for broadcasting and for newspapers, and we’re suffering the consequences.” There “needs to be a way to pay for good investigative journalism,” and “we want to work with you” on ways for Congress to get involved, Smith said.

Smith and other Senate Communications members floated additional measures to bolster local media, beyond the infrastructure package, as a way of combating misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. Smith urged Congress to bring back the minority broadcaster certificate and said the Biden administration should target a significant part of its pro-vaccine ad budget at broadcasters. Local broadcasters in particular are the best way to target vaccine-skeptical populations because they can “drive home the message better than any other medium,” Smith said. Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., pointed to the lack of media ownership diversity as a hindrance in communicating to diverse audiences on pandemic-related issues.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., told us before the Thursday hearing that he intends to refile his Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act “soon” in a bid to bring back the minority tax certificate. The House Commerce Committee advanced the measure in the last Congress, but the full chamber didn’t pass it (see 2009090068). Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said he will again lead the Senate version of the measure. Smith said he believes Congress shouldn’t have ended the program in 1995, despite abuses. “You can” aim to expand broadcaster diversity “with a stick,” but “it is better with a carrot,” he said.

“It was very disappointing that we didn’t get” the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act “over the finish line” last year, despite a push to enact it via must-pass bills, Butterfield said. “Things were dysfunctional” amid the 2020 presidential election cycle, and “congressional leadership reached for low-hanging fruit, so I don’t blame anyone for not including it” in that environment. It “would be fine” if Congress decided to “fold it into” an infrastructure package or other omnibus legislation this year, he said. “Now that things have settled down, I believe the timing is right to get it done.”

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., floated the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (HR-1735/S-673) during the hearing as a way to give local media some protection in bargaining with major tech companies. The measure would provide a four-year exemption from antitrust laws for news publishers and broadcasters, so they can negotiate terms for content and revenue with Big Tech. HR-1735 drew a mixed response during a March House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing (see 2103120066).

Compromises Sought

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told reporters he’s talking with Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other GOP leaders about breaking off elements of Biden’s proposal that have bipartisan agreement and advancing them as a separate measure. “That could end up being an $800 billion to $1 trillion bipartisan bill” that would likely include broadband, he said. “If there is a pathway towards a robust infrastructure package with Republicans, I will support and urge that the Biden administration embrace splitting this into two bills.”

Wicker and most other senators attending a GOP caucus news conference were adamant that broadband fully belongs in their definition of what constitutes core infrastructure as they repeated their view that the Biden plan, which includes $100 billion for connectivity (see 2103310064), goes well beyond those bounds. “I think all of us agree that the old definition of infrastructure probably would not have included broadband,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. “Today all of us understand that broadband is an essential part.”

“We are very different, I think, when you look at what core infrastructure means to you," but “broadband is a huge part of that,” Capito told reporters. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, appeared to hedge about whether broadband is a part of core infrastructure but said he believes “it is a necessity now” because it helps people access telemedicine and remote learning during the pandemic.

“We’re willing to talk about a much larger infrastructure package than we’re used to,” but it should “stick to” what Republicans see as the 30% of the Biden proposal “that is actually infrastructure,” Wicker said. “We're accustomed to doing broadband, we're accustomed to doing roads and bridges, we're accustomed to doing infrastructure in a bipartisan way, and we've done it time and time again.” Biden’s $2.3 trillion figure “is way too big.” Wicker and Cantwell met Monday with Biden on infrastructure (see 2104120060).

Details Pending

The Republicans indicated they haven’t settled on a final spending figure for their counterproposal, which Capito said is more likely to involve a “range” than an exact amount. She earlier indicated a bipartisan compromise could fall between $600 billion and $800 billion. Collins and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., both noted their participation in a Thursday call with lawmakers from both parties about potential bipartisan solutions. Collins said she’s “optimistic that we can achieve results.”

The GOP proposal will seek funding sources other than tax increases. “I voted for” the 2017 tax cuts, including the corporate rate decrease that the Biden proposal seeks to partially undo, Capito said. Raising it is “nonnegotiable” and “a nonstarter.” Congress doesn’t “need to raise taxes on the American people” while the U.S. is trying to emerge from the pandemic-induced recession, Cornyn said. Wicker has suggested his Broadband Reserve Fund Act (S-592), which would reallocate $65 billion in proceeds from the FCC’s recent auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, could be a way of funding broadband infrastructure spending (see 2104010062).

Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and other Republicans said their plan will also include permitting revisions that Biden’s plan “ignored.” Daines and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., filed the Accelerating Rural Broadband Deployment Act Wednesday in a bid to ease some hurdles. The measure would make it easier for broadband companies to receive federal right-of-way licenses and ensure the costs of such licenses, which allow them to install broadband alongside existing infrastructure like federal highways, are based on fair-market prices. NCTA praised the measure. Daines’ office also cited support from Blackfoot Communications, the Montana Telecommunications Association, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA.

Communications sector officials are continuing to seek details about the Biden proposal, including its call for 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband speeds (see 2104140023). The White House plan says “by one definition, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds,” an industry official said: “We don’t know who/what that ‘one definition’ is, nor what ‘minimally acceptable speeds’ are.” The official also believes the White House is considering only cable and fiber as broadband and is leaving out fixed wireless, satellite and other forms in its counting of broadband coverage.