Reps. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., and Mike Carey, R-Ohio, led filing of a House companion to the Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act (S-4317) Tuesday in a bid to give the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program $6 billion in stopgap funding for FY 2024. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., filed S-4317 in May after he unsuccessfully attempted to attach identical language to the FAA reauthorization package (see 2405090068). The measure would couple the stopgap ACP funding with changes to the program’s scope and eligibility rules. Affordable Broadband Campaign spokesperson Gigi Sohn praised Budzinski and Carey for filing S-4317’s House companion. In a statement, Sohn said, “There is no excuse not to move this legislation forward.” Also praising the lawmakers were the ACLU, Common Sense Media, Incompas, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, National Lifeline Association, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming filed the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act to speed federal evaluation of connectivity projects, ensuring they meet the 270-day process deadline instituted in the 2018 Mobile Now Act. “To ensure rural communities across South Dakota have access to reliable broadband, it is critical that federal agencies are processing broadband permits in a timely fashion and that they are being held accountable for any delays,” Thune, who led the Mobile Now Act, said in a statement. Lujan, in a statement, said, “More must be done to address the barriers that have long kept rural communities on the wrong side of the digital divide.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 26-3 Thursday to advance its Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee FY 2025 funding bill (S-4795) with allocation increases for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division. The measure, released Thursday night, would give NTIA more than $61.5 million for FY25. That’s a 4% increase from what NTIA received for FY 2024 but 8% less than President Joe Biden's request in March (see 2403110056). The Patent Office would get more than $4.65 billion, level with what Biden requested and an 11% increase from FY24 (see 2403040083). The National Institute of Standards and Technology would receive $1.53 billion, a 5% increase from FY24 and 2% more than Biden sought. The Bureau of Industry and Security would get $206 million, 8% more than in FY24 and 7% greater than the Biden request. DOJ Antitrust would get $288 million, level with Biden's proposal but 23% more than it received in FY24. The House Appropriations Committee-cleared CJS FY25 bill (HR-9026) proposed decreased funding for DOJ Antitrust and all Commerce agencies except PTO (see 2407090057).

House Commerce Committee GOP leaders pressed NTIA Thursday on its handling of the contract with Verisign to operate the .com and .net domain name registries amid concerns that the company has made “excessive” increases in the price of .com domain names that “stifle the ability of potential … registrants to conduct business online.” NTIA contracted Verisign to operate the registries in 2001 and that agreement will automatically renew Nov. 30 absent the company providing “written notice of non-renewal within 120 days of its expiration,” House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Morgan Griffith (Va.) said in a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. Since its 2006 renewal of the .com agreement, Verisign “has had a right of renewal, rather than ICANN holding a competitive bidding process for managing the .com registry at the expiration of each agreement.” DOJ “has previously recommended ICANN hold a competitive bidding process for renewals of registry agreements,” the GOP leaders told Davidson. “Members of Congress have also noted that Verisign’s exclusive control of .com allows it to operate as a monopoly over the .com registry.” Verisign “has since instituted a price increase of the maximum amount in every year it was allowed to do so,” the lawmakers said: “Some have argued that Verisign enjoys considerable profit margins from managing the registry, charging far more than it costs to operate it.” The lawmakers want information by Aug. 8 on NTIA’s negotiations with Verisign about renewal of the .com contract, whether the agency has studied the effect of .com price increases on the domain name marketplace and what sort of outreach it's done with other domain name stakeholders.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act (S-2238), Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275) and 11 other telecom and tech-focused bills Wednesday. The panel postponed marking up S-275 and some of the other pending bills in May (see 2405010051) because of a still-unresolved impasse over the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207). Eight of the measures are AI related: the Creating Resources for Every American to Experiment with AI Act (S-2714), Testing and Evaluation Systems for Trusted AI Act (S-3162), AI Research, Innovation and Accountability Act (S-3312), Future of AI innovation Act (S-4178), National Science Foundation AI Education Act (S-4394), Small Business AI Training and Toolkit Act (S-4487), AI Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act (S-4596) and Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy AI Act (S-4769). Also on the docket: the Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (S-3781) and Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (S-4569). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell, Senate Commerce said Wednesday night.

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., filed a Senate version of a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to undo the FCC’s April net neutrality order (Senate Joint Resolution 103) earlier this week. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, filed a House CRA resolution in May (see 2405230021). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., previously filed an amendment (see 2406110054) to the stalled Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) aimed at nullifying the net neutrality rules. The House Appropriations Committee advanced its version of the FCC-FTC FY 2025 funding bill (HR-8773) in June with a rider barring the commission from using its allocation to pay for implementation of the net neutrality order (see 2406140054).

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation that would establish a right for victims of deepfake porn to sue violators. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lauded passage of the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (Defiance) Act (see 2406210047), a bipartisan measure that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced. A co-sponsor, Schumer said nonconsensual deepfake porn is a “horrible attack on someone’s privacy and dignity to have these fake images of them circulating online without recourse.” He urged a House vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he would file a legislative vehicle that moves the Kids Online Safety Act (S-1409) and Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S-1418), setting up floor votes to invoke cloture on the measures “as soon as Thursday.” Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., in recent months have maintained a hold on S-1409 aimed at preventing unanimous consent passage because of concerns over censorship (see 2407160056). The House Commerce Committee scrapped a late June markup of S-1409 companion HR-7891 amid chamber Republican leaders’ misgivings with the panel’s approach to privacy legislation (see 2406270046). “Social media has helped hundreds of millions of people connect in new ways over the last two decades, but there are also new and sometimes serious health risks that come along with those benefits,” Schumer said during a floor speech. “On this issue, we desperately need to catch up.” It “has been a long and bumpy road, but one thing I always knew for sure: it would be worth it,” Schumer said: He suggested he had reached “a consensus” with members so “we are going to get this done.” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., later praised Schumer’s push for a deal. Fight for the Future criticized Schumer’s plan to move S-1409 and S-1418. “This is not about protecting kids,” FFTF Director Evan Greer said. “This is about Senators getting to claim they’re protecting kids ahead of the election. It makes me sick to my stomach. Experts have repeatedly warned that KOSA would make kids less safe, rather than more safe.” Schumer’s decision to move on the bills “is deeply cynical” given that House leaders have indicated “KOSA currently has no path to becoming law,” Greer said: “So, Big Tech will continue getting away with murder, because Senate leadership are choosing to score political points rather than advance thoughtful legislation. For shame.” The Parents Television and Media Council, however, urged the Senate to move on S-1409 and S-1418.

The House Rules Committee plans a Monday meeting where it will consider whether to allow floor votes on proposed amendments to the Appropriations Committee-cleared FY 2025 FCC-FTC funding bill (HR-8773). These include proposals that would undo a ban on the FCC implementing an equity action plan and increase the FTC’s annual funding (see 2407100060). The underlying bill proposes boosting the FCC’s annual allocation to $416 million but includes riders barring the commission from implementing GOP-opposed net neutrality and digital discrimination orders (see 2406050067). Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., filed a late amendment barring the FCC from using its funding to administer or implement parts of Communications Act Section 706’s presidential war powers. Those powers let the president close any broadcast station or wireline communication facility for national security or defense reasons when “there exists war or a threat of war” or another national emergency. House Rules set a Monday deadline for lawmakers to file amendments to the Appropriations-approved Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee FY 2025 funding bill (HR-9029), which would eliminate advance CPB funding for FY 2027 (see 2406270059).

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, pressed NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday to explain why he has significantly delayed responding to their oversight questions. Davidson hasn’t answered "additional questions for the record" (QFRs) that House Communications members sent following a May 15 NTIA oversight hearing, they said (see 2405150020). The deadline for responses was June 30, the lawmakers said, which was 30 days ago. In addition, it took Davidson until the day House Commerce announced the May 15 hearing to respond to follow-up questions House Communications members sent him after a Dec. 5 hearing (see 2312050076), a period of 107 days, Rodgers and Latta said in a letter to Davidson. “It is unacceptable that in order to receive responses to QFRs from an oversight hearing, we must introduce more oversight activity,” they said: “However, as this seems to be the only method of effective motivation, the NTIA will continue to receive additional congressional inquiries until the QFRs from the May hearing are received.” They asked Davidson to give them information by July 31 about how NTIA drafts and vets responses to follow-up questions. NTIA didn’t immediately comment.