House Appropriations Report Has USF Contribution Revamp, Muni Broadband Language

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed report on the Financial Services Subcommittee-cleared measure to fund the FCC and FTC in FY 2022 seeks further work on changes to USF contribution rules and wants additional study of how municipal broadband can expand connectivity access. The committee was still considering the underlying bill late Tuesday afternoon. Dueling panels of telecom policy officials disagreed on how lawmakers should translate into legislation the $65 billion broadband component in a bipartisan infrastructure package framework President Joe Biden endorsed last week (see 2106240070).

House Appropriations Democrats and Republicans divided sharply on Financial Services’ FY22 measure but barely touched on the proposed FCC and FTC funding language. The bill proposes giving the FCC $388 million and the FTC almost $390 million, mirroring what President Joe Biden proposed in late May (see 2105280055). House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., cited the measure’s rural broadband language, including for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The committee said in the report it “remains concerned about program implementation” and “expects the FCC to fully enforce its rules related to buildout requirements and performance tier commitments.” The panel earlier advanced the Legislative Branch Subcommittee’s FY 2022 funding bill, which would give the Copyright Office $53 million, up 9% from FY 2021.

DeLauro and Financial Services Chairman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said the FTC funding is needed to aid that agency’s consumer protection mission. Quigley also noted the bill’s allocation of $15 million to the new Office of the National Cyber Director. House Appropriations ranking member Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Financial Services ranking member Steve Womack, R-Ark., criticized the legislation’s overall spending levels.

House Appropriations “believes it is imperative that the FCC work with the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service on recommendations for USF modernization, including contribution reform to ensure the long-term sustainability and viability of the USF programs and resolve inequities in the current contributions structure.” The offices of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told us they’re interested in FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s proposal to make Big Tech pay into USF (see 2105240037).

Riders

The Financial Services report includes a few broadband-focused riders. One would direct the FCC to “evaluate new or existing programs that could be used to permanently extend telecommunications and information services to students at locations other than schools and libraries.” House Appropriations wants to direct the FCC “to provide a briefing on implementation of the Emergency Connectivity Fund and any findings from its evaluations no later than 120 days after” the FY 2022 bill’s enactment.

House Appropriations seeks an “updated spend plan and status report on [Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act implementation] spending” within 60 days of the funding’s enactment. The committee “encourages the FCC to continue its work” on a potential partnership with the U.S. Postal Service on collecting wireless connectivity data “that will help improve wireless mapping in rural and underserved communities across the country.”

The report “urges the FCC to study the role of municipal-owned networks in expanding broadband access to unserved and underserved communities.” Biden’s original March infrastructure proposal called for lifting barriers to municipal broadband (see 2103310064). Other recommendations include support for “a phased approach to making additional spectrum available for commercial licensed and unlicensed use” and opposition to “efforts to use Federally allocated spectrum to create a national wholesale 5G network owned, operated, or controlled by the government.”

House Appropriations wants to direct the FCC to “adhere to statutory requirements and Congressional intent when taking administrative action related to satellite television carriage issues.” The committee “is particularly concerned with the lack of clarity regarding the technical and economic feasibility requirement. In reviewing this requirement, the FCC should provide a full analysis to ensure decisions on market modification are comprehensively reviewed” and Congress’ intent in the 2014 Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization “to promote localism is retained.”

The report would direct the FCC to “provide a report detailing the total amount of funding provided” to broadcasters for incentive auction repacking “by each category of eligible recipient.” House Appropriations “is aware of concerns about funds available to broadcasters to repack stations and is monitoring this issue closely.”

House Appropriations seeks a report “detailing the status of implementation of” the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (see 1912310028). The committee “urges the FCC to regularly discuss collections of fines levied” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act with the DOJ “to ensure timely collection and to report to the Committee every three months” after the funding bill’s enactment “on the status of collected and uncollected penalties.” The report notes “significant delays in collecting and enforcing” TCPA penalties “and is concerned that these fines serve as an insufficient deterrent to potential” violators.

Infrastructure

Biden framed the bipartisan plan Tuesday as a “generational investment” in broadband and other infrastructure. “America has always been propelled into the future by landmark national investments” that “only the government has the capacity to make,” he said during a speech in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Last spring, “more than 82,000 children” in Wisconsin “didn’t have reliable internet access at home.” Did “you ever think” in the U.S. kids “would have to sit in a fast-food parking lot just to do their school work and homework because they could connect online?” Biden said. “No child should have to do that.”

The White House and lawmakers haven’t released additional details on the bipartisan infrastructure deal, but $40 billion of the $65 billion broadband component is believed to be allocated for state governments to use to connect unserved areas. The Agriculture Department’s ReConnect broadband program would get $15 billion, and two separate $5 billion pots would go to a proposed NTIA program for communities and public-private partnerships and to digital equity investments. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering said during a call with reporters he believes the $40 billion in state-level funding reflects language in the Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy Act refiled earlier this month (see 2106150089).

Mignon Clyburn, who with Pickering heads the Incompas-backed BroadLand campaign, and others supporting using the infrastructure plan’s broadband money on “future-proof” connectivity framed the bipartisan deal’s broadband money during the conference call as a “down payment,” saying they’re not disappointed it’s less than the $100 billion Biden originally proposed. “There are a number of other initiatives that may come down the pike,” Clyburn told reporters. “Not so long ago we were questioning if broadband was essential. We have come several generations away from that” mindset.

Alpine Advisors Chairman Greg Walden, former House Commerce Committee GOP leader, appeared during an ACA Connects event, to side with stakeholders who seek to prioritize broadband money for unserved areas and who oppose mandating 100 Mbps symmetrical speeds as part of infrastructure legislation. Consumers who already had fast speeds saw their connections get faster when the FCC updated its definition of minimum service to 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload “and the slow got left behind,” Walden said. 100 Mbps symmetrical service would be “pretty expensive” to mandate on a national level and “is that really what we need?”

The Internet Innovation Alliance, ALLvanza, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the National Urban League said Tuesday they agree, there “should be a permanent broadband subsidy to help low-income families afford broadband service, even after the Emergency Broadband Benefit runs out.” The four groups also agree on a broadband connectivity subsidy so “low-income consumers don’t have to choose between mobile phone service and in-home broadband service.” Also, the group said Lifeline subsidy “should be significantly increased from $9.25 per month to an amount that enables everyone to afford the cost of a broadband subscription today.”