The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote Wednesday at 10 a.m. on confirming Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak for the FTC and reconfirming Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the committee announced, as expected (see 2309220061).

The National Farmers Union, National Grange and eight other rural advocacy groups urged congressional leaders to pass the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669). The measure would require the Transportation Department to mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future vehicles. The Senate Commerce Committee approved an amended version of S-1669 in July, but House Commerce leaders expressed mixed opinions about the measure (see 2307270063). “AM radio is an essential communications medium in rural America,” including “commodity market reports” that are “called into local radio stations every day” and “well-known agriculture broadcasters remain a trusted source for valuable market reporting and updates,” NFU and the other groups said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and the chambers’ minority leaders. “There are more than 4,470 licensed AM stations across the country, with over a third of those stations broadcasting this type of agricultural programming. More than 40 percent of radio listeners are tuning in from their cars or trucks.” The groups also cited AM radio’s role in broadcasting emergency alerts since “when the power goes out in rural America, and cell networks are down, households are still able to access that emergency information through their car radio.” NAB, which backs HR-3413/S-1669, publicized the letter Wednesday.

President Joe Biden should incorporate the administration’s AI Bill of Rights into his forthcoming executive order, 16 House and Senate Democrats wrote in a letter Wednesday. Consumer advocates made the same suggestion in August (see 2308030065). Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts headed Wednesday’s effort with Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. The bill of rights and “detailed best practices” should be “binding when federal agencies develop, purchase, fund, deploy, or regulate the use of automated systems,” they wrote.

Former senior House Communications Subcommittee member Steve Scalise of Louisiana, now chamber majority leader, won the Republican caucus’ nomination for speaker Wednesday 113-99 against Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio. The two tech-focused leaders sparred in recent days for the caucus’ backing to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California after eight House Republicans joined with all present Democrats more than a week ago to oust the former leader by a 216-210 margin. It wasn’t clear Wednesday afternoon whether Scalise had secured enough votes to assure the full House would elect him as speaker, as several GOP lawmakers indicated they planned to still vote for Jordan, to reinstate McCarthy, or were otherwise uncommitted to backing Scalise in a House floor vote despite the caucus’ nomination. Jordan’s office confirmed he will back Scalise on the floor. Scalise relinquished his House Communications seat at the beginning of this Congress when he became majority leader. He was the lead Republican sponsor of the 2021 Secure Equipment Act, which bans the FCC from issuing new equipment licenses to companies the commission decides are a national security risk (see 2110290067). Scalise has also been an active advocate for revamping retransmission consent and other TV rules, including as lead GOP sponsor of the Modern Television Act during the past two Congresses (see 2103110064). Jordan, who became House Judiciary chairman at the beginning of this Congress, has been a strong critic of FTC actions under Chair Lina Khan and is spearheading the panel’s investigation of the Biden administration’s efforts to control misinformation on social media (see 2308180043). He has also been a hurdle to House consideration of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (see 2309010048).

TikTok’s decision to hire executives from Chinese parent company ByteDance raises questions about national security and TikTok’s independence from Beijing, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote in a letter to the company Tuesday. Citing Wall Street Journal reports, they claimed former ByteDance executives have moved to the U.S. to work for TikTok, replacing U.S. executives. “The relationship between ByteDance and TikTok poses a unique risk to the security and privacy of TikTok’s users in the United States,” they wrote. “TikTok executives, including personnel based in China, have been found spying on American journalists, and, in leaked recordings, its staff acknowledged that ‘everything is seen in China,’” they wrote. TikTok said in a statement Tuesday: "In a large, global organization, it is not uncommon for employees to work on different products or geographies over the course of their career. This is neither a recent development, nor is it unique to TikTok. We welcome the opportunity to provide the Senators facts and context the Journal chose to ignore in their initial story."

The FCC may avert a shutdown for now, but other agencies hang in the balance. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on CNBC Thursday the House won't approve a continuing resolution from the Senate (see 2309270046), in part, because it doesn’t address border security. “I think we could work through the weekend and I think we could figure this out,” he said. McCarthy held out hope the government won’t close at midnight Saturday. “We’re going to get this done,” he said. He acknowledged reaching an agreement won’t be easy. “I’ve got challenges [in] our conference,” he said: “I’ve got members who will not vote to have a stopgap measure to continue to fund the government. I’ve got members who say they’ll never vote for an omnibus [bill]. Well, if you won’t do any of that it’s hard to govern.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935), the shell bill for the chamber's continuing resolution that would avert a shutdown and extend appropriations until Nov 17. The Senate voted 76-22 earlier that day on a motion to proceed to the CR.

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez to oppose Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s “Learning Without Limits” proposal to allow E-rate program money to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and for hot spots (see 2306260029). Both lawmakers declared their “strong opposition” to the plan in July (see 2307310063). “We ask that you reject this unlawful plan to vastly expand the E-Rate program,” they said in a letter to Gomez released Wednesday. “Instead, the FCC should work with Congress, not ignore the text of” Communications Act Section 254’s E-rate authorizing statute “to advance its policy goals.” Expanding “E-Rate support to off-campus connectivity” would “open the door to funding broadband buildout to homes, even in cases where the community is already served by an existing broadband provider,” the GOP leaders said: “This use of taxpayer dollars to compete with private businesses is inappropriate and inefficient, and could duplicate existing federal programs.” There “is no telling how much USF fees could increase to pay for this dramatic, unlawful expansion of E-Rate,” they said. “Unlike congressionally funded programs like [the affordable connectivity program] or [broadband, equity, access and deployment program], the FCC’s USF avoids the appropriations process, hides who contributes, and adds fees to the phone bills of American families.” Gomez’s office didn’t comment.

The Senate needs to bring online child safety legislation to a vote, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a floor speech Wednesday. He urged support for several bills the committee passed, including his Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (Stop CSAM) Act (S-1199) and the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It Act) (see 2305240050). Every member of the committee supported the Stop CSAM Act, and “I’m working to bring it to the floor,” he said. “The Senate must act. Our failure to do so will preserve the status quo, where our children are being sexually exploited online every day.”

The House was expected to vote Tuesday night on a rule for debate on the FY 2024 Agriculture Department appropriations measure (HR-4368), which would allow consideration of four broadband amendments. A proposal led by Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Susan Davis, D-Calif., would revise the department’s ReConnect program rules to set minimum speed requirements at 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload in areas where at least 75% of households lack access to that level of service (see 2307240063). Reps. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., want to redirect $3 million from USDA’s Office of Chief Financial Officer to the Rural Utilities Service’s Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband program. Two other amendments are largely symbolic. A proposal from Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo., would decrease and then immediately increase funding for USDA’s Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband Program by $10 million to emphasize “the importance of increased opportunities for the expansion of telehealth services into rural communities.” Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, proposes decreasing and then increasing the Community Connect Grant Program’s funding by $30 million to call attention to the need for “broadband service in economically disadvantaged communities.”

House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and three other lawmakers urged the FCC Thursday to "decline" a push to potentially refresh its long-dormant docket (14-261) on reclassifying streaming services as virtual MVPDs to fix a perceived disparity in retransmission consent rules (see 2307180058). House Communications Subcommittee Republicans similarly discouraged a revisit of the proceeding during a hearing earlier this month (see 2309130072). "Apart from it being of questionable substantive merit, that proceeding was based on highly questionable legal authority," Issa and other lawmakers said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "Perhaps most troubling, that proceeding appeared to presuppose an outcome that would have required a change in policy" from the House Judiciary Committee and Copyright Office, "thereby raising serious jurisdictional concerns." Both have "repeatedly rejected calls for the creation of new statutory licenses for video distribution," the lawmakers said.