Biden Signs Secure Equipment Act Into Law

President Joe Biden signed the Secure Equipment Act (HR-3919), which requires the FCC to ban issuing new equipment licenses to companies the commission decides are a national security risk, the White House said. The Senate passed the measure in late October (see 2110290067). Commissioners approved an NPRM 4-0 in June proposing a similar ban (see 2106090063). Lead sponsor Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and other sponsors jointly hailed Biden’s Thursday signing. “Now the FCC is prohibited from issuing licenses for any equipment made by companies that pose a threat to our national security,” Eshoo said Friday. Congress and the White House “sent a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that America is committed to protecting our telecommunications networks" and data security, said lead GOP co-sponsor House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Senate companion S-1790 sponsors Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also welcomed enactment. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., praised the measure as “a major step towards securing America’s telecommunications infrastructure” against companies like “China state-backed Huawei and ZTE.”