Thune Eyes Springtime Spoofing Bill Markup Amid FCC Reauthorization Negotiation
Horse trading on the two-year FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644) likely continued behind the scenes this week as Senate Commerce Committee Republicans sought to secure Democratic backing for the legislation, set for markup 10 a.m. Wednesday in 253 Russell. Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., pushed back against speculation that the item could be yanked from the markup agenda and raised the prospect of later marking up a priority bill for Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. -- the Spoofing Prevention Act (S-2558).
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“I don’t think it should create major issues,” said Thune, who has wanted to reauthorize the FCC since taking over as chairman in January 2015, in an interview Thursday. “There are other people who would like to talk about other things. I think we’ll have another markup with some FCC-related items ... if people want to get other issues aired out. I think this is a fairly straightforward approach to trying to get at least an authorization process put in place. So we’re hoping it can be bipartisan. And as of right now, it looks like that’s the direction that’s headed.”
Thune, discussing the FCC reauthorization negotiation, invoked Nelson’s “interest” in advancing the Spoofing Prevention Act and said it could be part of the other future markup he’s now planning. “It’d be later this spring, probably,” Thune said. Thune is tentatively planning an April markup featuring IoT legislation from Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and others on the committee.
Nelson introduced the Spoofing Prevention Act Feb. 22 with the backing of Fischer. They have tackled legislation together before, and have attracted the co-sponsorship of Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., since its introduction. The legislation would “expand the prohibition on misleading or inaccurate caller identification information,” as the text says.
“We’ve got interest on our side in that and some other issues,” Thune said of the spoofing measure. “We’ll look at some other things down the road, but we’d like to keep this [Wednesday markup] if we could confined to doing FAA and FCC [reauthorizations].” He didn’t rule out addressing FCC process overhaul in this future springtime markup but didn’t immediately mention that issue. He had told Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., he would engage in FCC process overhaul “activity” in the near future, after removal of such provisions from the FCC reauthorization text (see 1603090044).
“I would think Senator Nelson and I would have a pretty good draw on that bill, so we should be able to get it done,” Fischer told us Thursday. “It’s a good bill. … It’s been nice. I’m chairman and he’s the ranking member on the Emergency and Threats Subcommittee on the Armed Services Committee, too, so I think we have a good relationship.” A Fischer spokesman said discussions about next steps “are continuing to unfold” and said her office is “excited to see how quickly this legislation is moving through the process and the support it continues to gain.”
Commerce Committee Democrats insist they must still review the FCC Reauthorization Act before saying they can back the bill, which Thune introduced Monday.
“Well, we’ll see how the markup goes,” Nelson said in an interview Thursday. “There will be problems if they try to clip the powers of the FCC.” A Nelson telecom committee staffer warned Wednesday of the fast timeline for advancing such a reauthorization and cautioned that doing so is difficult.
“We don’t know yet,” Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us of Democratic reaction to the bill. “We’re talking to each other, we’re talking to staff, we’re analyzing the potential legislation.” The reauthorization text is shorter and involves fewer provisions than last year’s draft. It would require a GAO study on FCC regulatory fees and generally freeze the FCC budget for the next two years, adjusted for inflation and with some money slated for the agency’s headquarters transition. “It’s something that I’m going to have to look at on the Commerce and on the Appropriations side,” Schatz, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said of the flat-lined budget numbers in the Reauthorization Act. “But I don’t have anything definitive.”
Free Press sees no reason for hostility to the bill currently. “We’ve reviewed the bill and haven’t spotted any concerns,” Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said of the FCC Reauthorization Act. “I’m not an expert in and can’t really speak to the budget numbers, but on the rest of the substance and process stuff, it looks pretty clean to us.”
American Cable Association President Matt Polka favors the bill, he said Thursday. His group “is pleased that Sen. Thune's bill will examine FCC regulatory fees,” Polka said in a statement. “ACA has pointed out on several occasions that the FCC's regulatory fee program has treated cable operators unfairly by exempting satellite TV providers from paying their fair share of the cost to support the regulatory activities of the FCC's Media Bureau. Although the FCC has finally begun to reduce fee burdens on cable providers, Sen. Thune's bill takes the right approach by requiring the Government Accountability Office to determine whether the current fee structure correlates to the actual workload of the FCC.”
“It looks good at the moment,” Thune told us of the prospects for considering the Reauthorization Act without contention next week. Then he paused: “You know, it’s hard to say, I don’t know. We’re still socializing the agenda for next week. But as of right now, it’s on the schedule to mark it up.”