Congressional Republicans’ recent renewed interest in ending federal funding for NPR is a major issue in a memo from House Commerce Committee GOP aides and in written testimony from witnesses ahead of a Wednesday Oversight Subcommittee hearing on recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at the public broadcasting network (see 2405010081). Several Republican lawmakers filed legislation or are eyeing crafting measures aimed at ending NPR’s federal funding (see 2404190060), including the Defund NPR Act (HR-8083). The Commerce Oversight hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Most comments support an Enterprise Wireless Alliance petition at the FCC seeking modifications to Part 90 rules to eliminate the assignment of frequencies within the band's 809-816/854-861 MHz portion to specific pools of eligible entities (see 2402280033). Public safety groups opposed the change.

A Minnesota lawmaker and a labor group pushed back Monday against the telecom industry's opposition to advancing a proposal on broadband workforce safety. The state's Senate planned to weigh the measure as part of a labor omnibus (HF-5242), but senators hadn’t voted by our deadline. The Minnesota Cable Association (MCA), Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) and the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) warned Gov. Tim Walz (D) that the proposal would discourage carriers from seeking federal broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and other high-speed internet grants.

Twenty Republican attorneys general support the 20 industry petitioners asking the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the FCC’s digital discrimination order on grounds it exceeds agency authority and lacks clear congressional intent (see 2404230032). The AGs made their argument in an amicus brief Thursday (docket 24-1179).

CTIA President Meredith Baker said that policymakers must reverse course to change how spectrum is allocated in the U.S., moving away from too much focus on unlicensed and not enough on full-power licensed spectrum. The U.S. has allocated three times as much unlicensed spectrum as licensed, she said during a CTIA 5G Summit Monday. Baker noted the national spectrum strategy's focus on the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands. “The studies of these bands have to start immediately and examine all options,” she said.

A measure regulating children’s social media use has sufficient bipartisan support for the Senate Commerce Committee to approve it, ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us last week.

The FCC should reign in its Enforcement Bureau to avoid conflicts with recent and expected U.S. Supreme Court decisions, though the current bureau doesn’t “overreach” as frequently as it did under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday during a Wiley panel discussion called “Opportunities to Reform FCC Enforcement." Carr told us, “The jury is still out” on whether the EB under FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel needs reform, he said in an interview after the panel discussion: “We’re not off the rails the way the agency was during the Wheeler tenure."

Vermont’s net neutrality law seems in good shape legally following two significant, late-April decisions by the FCC and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said experts on the statute. ISP groups must decide what to do with their 2018 lawsuit at U.S. District Court of Vermont now that the case can resume following the 2nd Circuit ruling.

A proposal that the FCC launch a rulemaking authorizing 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the 900 MHz band received support in comments, which were due Thursday in docket 24-99. But commenters stressed that the relocation process must be voluntary, and that the rules must protect incumbents from harmful interference. The filings offer a snapshot of how 900 MHz is used today.

Heavy competition the cable industry faces from fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) is moving downscale, with multiple cable operators telling Wall Street in recent days that there's more pressure at the lower end of the market. Some anticipate greater pressure on their internet subscriber numbers due to the looming end of the affordable connectivity program. Moreover, Charter Communications said it's already seeing effects from February's freeze on new ACP enrollments (see 2402010075).