A planned Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on supply chain security and spectrum legislation is likely to focus on an expected bill aimed at helping smaller carriers address equipment on their networks that may be a security risk (see 1909120003), Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told reporters. The hearing targets legislation “to root-out suspect network equipment nationwide and explore ways to improve coordination and management of spectrum resources to better serve the American people,” said Doyle and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., in a statement. The panel is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. Pallone has been leading work on coming legislation expected to provide funding to rural carriers to remove equipment from Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907220053). House Communications aims to use “regular order” for advancing all of its legislation, “and the first step would be hearings and then markups, so it's reasonable to assume that if we have a hearing, then a markup can't be too far behind,” Doyle said. The hearing is unlikely to touch much on legislation on repurposing spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G, Doyle said. “We're not there yet” on legislation marrying elements of his own draft bill and the Wireless Investment Now in (Win) 5G Act (HR-4171) from House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif. “I'm for a public auction and getting as much” of the C-band spectrum “sold as we can,” Doyle said.

FTC Competition Bureau Director Bruce Hoffman will testify at the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee’s Sept. 24 hearing (see 1909030042). Other witnesses are American Antitrust Institute President Diana Moss, George Mason University law professor John Yun and Trinity Ventures General Partner Patricia Nakache.

The Technological Advisory Council meets Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, the FCC said Monday. TAC last met in June, its first meeting since it was rechartered (see 1906240049).

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., touted additional support Tuesday for his Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act (S-558). The bill, refiled in February by Markey and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., would fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health initiative on the impact of various tech and media on cognitive, physical and socio-emotional development. The research would look at the effects of mobile devices and apps, social media, movies, TV and videogames (see 1902260060). Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., filed House companion HR-1367 in February. Microsoft, Lego Group, Ion Media and Litton Entertainment recently endorsed S-558, Markey's office said. Amazon, Facebook, Google, the Internet Association and other tech companies already backed the bill.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., led the Tuesday filing of the Defending America's 5G Future Act in a bid to bar the Trump administration from lifting the Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei to its export entity blacklist without congressional approval. The measure would also allow Congress to disallow any presidential administration from issuing waivers to any U.S.-based company doing business with Huawei. The bill's filing comes amid congressional ire over Trump's willingness to relax restrictions on Huawei as part of trade talks with China (see 1907020060). “Huawei isn’t a normal business partner for American companies, it’s a front for the Chinese Communist Party,” Cotton said in a news release. “American companies shouldn’t be in the business of selling our enemies the tools they’ll use to spy on Americans.” Five senators are co-sponsors -- Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and Mark Warner, D-Va. The House version has three co-sponsors -- House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming; Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.; and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif. The House last week approved its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), which includes several amendments on Huawei and fellow Chinese telecom equipment makers (see 1907120040). One of the amendments, sought by Gallagher, would impose conditions for the Commerce Department to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from any of the three proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051).

The House voted 220-197 Friday to pass its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), which includes three amendments addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907110037). One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). A second Gallagher-led proposal would direct the president to submit a report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). “There are many shortcomings in this year's NDAA, but one positive” is inclusion of the anti-Huawei/ZTE amendments, he tweeted Thursday. Commerce officials said at a BIS conference the department plans to issue multiple guidance documents on its blacklisting of Huawei due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters. Language from Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., would restrict use of telecom equipment made by companies originating in countries that are U.S. adversaries at DOD installations in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051). HR-2500 also includes an amendment led by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., that would attach language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (HR-1629/S-1015). It would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations" (see 1904050054).

The House passed on voice votes Thursday four telecom-related amendments to its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), including three addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907020060). The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from any of the three proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051). The House also approved an amendment led by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., that would attach language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (HR-1629/S-1015). It would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations" rather than administrative or clerical occupations (see 1904050054). AT&T “enthusiastically supports” the HR-1629 language, Executive Vice President-Federal Relations Tim McKone said. House Rules Committee cleared the Torres and anti-Huawei/ZTE amendments Tuesday. One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list that would impose export restrictions on the company, including a finding that Huawei and its executives haven't violated U.S. or UN sanctions and haven't engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during the preceding five years (see 1906190054). Undersecretary-Industry and Security Nazak Nikakhtar said Tuesday the department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon” (see 1907100013). A second Gallagher-led proposal would direct the president to submit a report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). Language from Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., would restrict the use of telecom equipment made by companies originating in countries that are U.S. adversaries at Department of Defense installations in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. Commerce plans multiple guidances on its blacklisting of Huawei due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, officials told a BIS conference Thursday, to address the most common questions from U.S. industries. “We've gotten a lot of questions and we’ve been funneling them up the chain for clearance,” said Hillary Hess, director of Commerce’s regulatory policy division. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., meanwhile, criticized Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Thursday after a report Mnuchin is encouraging Huawei's U.S. suppliers to seek licenses that would resume their sales to the company. “I strongly 'discourage' any American company from seeking licenses to deal with Huawei,” Cotton tweeted. The company “is a threat to Americans’ security, privacy, & prosperity. Don’t be the proverbial capitalist who sells the rope the communists will hang us with.”

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822) and three other tech-related measures as part of a July 10 executive session, the committee said Wednesday. S-1822 would require the FCC issue rules to collect more “granular” broadband coverage data and a “user-friendly challenge process” allowing participation by consumers, governments and others (see 1906130029). The other tech measures set for markup are the Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act (S-153), the Blockchain Promotion Act (S-553) and the Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (Digit) Act (S-1611). S-153 would require the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish an interagency working group to coordinate federal programs aimed at training and transitioning military veterans to jobs in science, tech, engineering and math. S-553 would direct the Commerce Department to create a working group of federal and private sector stakeholders to establish a common definition of blockchain. The working group also would make recommendations on a joint FCC-NTIA study to, in part, examine blockchain's potential impact on spectrum policy (see 1906130029). S-1611 would convene a working group of federal entities and stakeholders to provide recommendations to Congress on how to facilitate growth of IoT technologies. Senate Commerce plans to vote on advancing the nomination of Stephen Dickson as FAA administrator. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in Hart 216, the committee said.

Alexa users can delete audio data, but Amazon is still working to remove related transcript data, despite pressure from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in July 2018. Coons in May suggested the company misrepresented the control that Echo smart speaker users have in deleting audio data from interactions with Alexa (see 1905240034). Responding to Coons in a letter dated Friday, the company said transcripts are deleted from Alexa’s primary storage systems, and “we have an ongoing effort to ensure those transcripts do not remain in any of Alexa’s other storage systems.” That leaves open the possibility that transcript data remains stored, despite user requests for deletion, Coons said in a statement Tuesday. He raised concern about how data can be shared with third parties: “The American people deserve to understand how their personal data is being used by tech companies.” Amazon’s letter describes how it retains records of Alexa’s actions in response to users, despite deletion of user audio. Examples include when a customer “subscribes to Amazon Music Unlimited, places an Amazon Fresh order, requests a car from Uber or Lyft, and orders a pizza from Domino’s.” The e-tailer doesn’t anonymize user identity information related to transcripts, which allows customers to review transcripts. Alexa is designed to get smarter every day, the company said, using machine learning to analyze region, dialect, context, environment, age and other details about Echo users. The company didn’t comment further.

The Senate voted 86-8 Thursday to pass the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (S-1790) with a manager's amendment that included some 5G, spectrum and emergency alerts-related proposal. Senate leaders didn't include any proposed language in the manager's amendment targeting Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei (see 1906190054). There had been separate proposals by three senators -- Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. -- amid the debate over the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security notice adding Huawei and its affiliates to a list of entities subject to export administration regulations (see 1905160081). Romney was among those concerned President Donald Trump would seek to end BIS' restrictions against Huawei as part of the administration's ongoing trade talks with China (see 1905240038). The S-1790 language outlined in the manager's amendment would call for DOD to work with the FCC and NTIA to establish a spectrum sharing R&D program aimed at sharing between 5G technologies, federal and non-federal incumbent systems. The language says DOD, the FCC and NTIA officials should, by May 2020, propose an “integrated spectrum automation enterprise strategy” that will allow Defense to “address management of [spectrum], including Federal and non-Federal spectrum” shared by DOD “that could be used for national security missions in the future, including on a shared basis.” There's also language saying the secretary of defense should begin by March 15, 2020, to brief Hill committees with jurisdiction over DOD on how the department is using 5G technology and is working with other federal agencies to “develop common policies and approaches.” The manager's amendment includes a proposal from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., to would require the director of national intelligence to report on the extent to which “global and regional adoption” of foreign-made 5G technology affects U.S. national security. The study should in part look at how the nation's “strategy to reduce foreign influence and political pressure in international standard-setting bodies” could help mitigate the threat. Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, secured the addition of language from his Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act, which he first filed in response to the January 2018 false missile emergency alert in Hawaii (see 1801160054). The Alert Act would give the federal government sole authority to issue missile threat alerts and pre-empt state and local governments' role (see 1802070052). The Senate cleared the Alert Act last year by unanimous consent (see 1806270001).