Doyle, Commerce Leaders Press House for Bipartisan Spectrum Innovation Act Passage

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and other House Commerce Committee members urged the chamber Tuesday to pass the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) by a lopsided bipartisan margin ahead of floor votes as soon as that evening on several telecom and tech measures. The House planned floor votes on HR-7624 and two other telecom and tech bills on the docket: the Reporting Attacks from Nations Selected for Oversight and Monitoring Web Attacks and Ransomware from Enemies Act (HR-4551) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The chamber was also expected to consider the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990). The Rules Committee, meanwhile, began considering Tuesday afternoon a set of proposed amendments to the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act (HR-4040) amid Republicans’ concerns that the measure didn’t first get House Commerce clearance.

"It is essential that we extend" the FCC's spectrum auction authority past the current Sept. 30 expiration date via HR-7624, Doyle said during floor debate. "To maintain our nation's global leadership on wireless innovation, we must come together to ensure the smooth management of spectrum, and that includes the auctions" that "for years have efficiently made these airwaves available." He hopes the Senate "will soon follow suit." The measure would renew the FCC’s remit through March 31, 2024, and authorize a 3.1-3.45 GHz auction with some sales proceeds allocated to pay for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and additional funding for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2207130066).

"Congress must act now" on HR-7624, in part to provide certainty for bidders in the 2.5 GHz auction the FCC is set to begin Friday, said House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. The bill's passage is needed to ensure the 2.5 GHz band "can be used to provide faster mobile connectivity across the U.S. For the American people, it will mean faster internet, better connectivity and stronger cell service." HR-7624 "is currently the only proposal moving through Congress to address" the FCC renewal "and there are eminent consequences to our national and economic security if Congress fails to act," she said. Rodgers and others noted the measure's proposed NG-911 and rip and replace funding component is "budget neutral."

Lawmakers also spoke in support of HR-4551 and HR-7132. HR-4551 would require the FTC to report on cross-border complaints involving ransomware or other cyberattacks committed by the governments of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia or people associated with those countries. HR-7132 and Senate-passed companion S-120 would let domestic abuse survivors separate a mobile phone line from a shared plan involving their abusers without penalties or other requirements and require the FCC to establish rules that ensure calls and texts to domestic abuse hotlines don’t appear on call logs (see 2203180070).

Telehealth Debate

House Rules and testifying Commerce members voiced universal support for HR-4040 despite GOP process qualms. The measure would maintain the current lift of some restrictions on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services and coverage of those services at federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics for two years after the end of the federal public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also remove restrictions that limit healthcare providers’ ability to give their patients access to smart devices and innovative digital technology (see 2207210063). Lawmakers have long supported proposals to make permanent rollbacks of the restrictions instituted first enacted at the beginning of the pandemic (see 2008170064).

The temporary rule rollbacks have “led to millions of Medicare beneficiaries gaining access to telehealth for the first time,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “While it should never fully replace in-person care, in my opinion, telehealth has been shown to be a convenient and safe way for people to access many types of services when they can’t or prefer not to see their provider in person.” He said lawmakers agreed to a two-year extension of the regulatory rollbacks because “we really want to spend some time … looking at” the issue and want to have the results of a federal report due next year on the impact of those changes as they decide on a permanent solution.

“There’s not that many legislative days available” to the House once lawmakers return after Labor Day from the August recess, Pallone told House Rules in defense of the decision not to move HR-4040 through House Commerce before bringing the bill to the floor. “We’ll continue to do oversight” of Medicare recipients’ use of telehealth services over the course of the extended timeline. “If there’s something we agree on, we ought to move forward” on the measure, said House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “I hope there’s a strong bipartisan vote on the floor” for the measure when it comes up for consideration later this week.

Not moving HR-4040 through Commerce was “a missed opportunity,” said committee member Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., during the Rules hearing. He noted he supports the measure despite his concerns. “I think we could have done better” and produced a stronger measure if Commerce had a chance to amend the measure, Carter said: “Why do we got committees if we’re not going to go through the committee process? Let’s just do away with the committees if we’re not going to go through them and not utilize them.”

Many of the 10 proposed HR-4040 amendments deal with healthcare-specific issues. A manager’s amendment from Pallone would decrease the amount of funding from the Medicare Improvement Fund to pay for the two-year extension of telehealth benefits to $5.153 billion from the $5.159 billion originally proposed in the measure. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., proposes inserting text from his Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services Act (HR-1647), which would permanently allow audio-only telehealth services for substance-use disorders and mental health disorders if a physician or practitioner has already conducted an in-person or video telehealth evaluation. Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., want to add in the Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act (HR-7353), which would expand Americans’ access to employer-sponsored health benefits by classifying telehealth as an excepted benefit.