Trump Cites Broadband Funding as Priority in 4th COVID-19 Bill
President Donald Trump renewed his support Tuesday for efforts to include broadband funding in a fourth major COVID-19 legislative package, amid continued Capitol Hill interest in addressing broadband in future pandemic-related measures. The fortunes of broadband funding as part of future pandemic-related bills fluctuated in the weeks since Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the most recent aid bill (see 2003270058). Many tech and telecom entities listed proposals to include broadband funding in HR-748 and future aid legislation as one of the issues they lobbied the Hill on during Q1.
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Trump cited “much needed Infrastructure Investments,” including for broadband, as among his priorities for negotiations on a fourth COVID-19 bill. He previously cited interest in pursuing $2 trillion in infrastructure spending as part of future aid legislation (see 2003310070). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in response pushed for and then backed away from insisting the next measure include funding for broadband and other infrastructure projects because of resistance from GOP Hill leaders (see 2004030055).
Talks on a fourth COVID-19 bill will begin once a pending measure (HR-266) to add $310 billion in funding for the Small Business Administration-controlled Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is enacted, Trump tweeted. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday on a voice vote. A House vote could happen as soon as Thursday.
Lawmakers on the House and Senate Commerce committees are eyeing broadband-centric language for inclusion in the fourth measure, Hill aides and lobbyists told us. Issues under consideration include emergency funding for Lifeline and E-rate, and unrelated money to compensate at least some ISPs that provide free or discounted broadband services during the pandemic to low-income households, aides and lobbyists said. Budgetary issues will likely affect the extent to which Congress can provide such funding in the next package, lobbyists said. House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., has been circulating a draft to provide $2 billion of “emergency broadband benefit” (see 2004140062).
One measure being considered as a model for ISP compensation language is the Keeping Critical Connections Act (S-3569), lobbyists said. The bill would set up a $2 billion Keeping Critical Connections Fund at the FCC to compensate ISPs with fewer than 250,000 customers for free or discounted broadband services during the emergency to low-income households that can't afford to pay their bills. The fund would also compensate small ISPs if they provide distance learning during the emergency (see 2003240064).
The new Emergency Educational Connections Act could also influence a legislative package, lobbyists said. The bill, from Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., would create a $2 billion FCC-run Emergency Connectivity Fund. The money would go to schools and libraries, including on Tribal lands, to buy Wi-Fi hot spots and other devices for students and patrons, Meng’s office said Tuesday. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., tweeted he plans to file a companion measure. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen praised the legislation.
Other Priorities
Lawmakers remain interested in including additional funding in future COVID-19 legislation to improve federal collection of broadband connectivity data, aides and lobbyists said. The FCC had asked Congress during HR-748 talks to include $65 million (see 2003230066) to implement the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act broadband mapping legislative package (S-1822).
Republicans are considering attaching language from the Streamlining the Rapid Evolution and Modernization of Leading-Edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance (Streamline) Small Cell Deployment Act (S-1699), though such a push is likely to get Democratic pushback, lobbyists said. The bill aims to implement “reasonable process and timeframe guidelines” for state and local small-cell consideration (see 1906030068). The National League of Cities and other localities groups opposed the measure in the past (see 1810040055).
House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., formally circulated to colleagues a planned letter urging House leaders to support a bid by NAB and other news media groups to make broadcasters and local newspapers eligible for PPP funding, as expected (see 2004200001). “Hundreds of individual broadcasters and news publishers were not eligible for loan relief because they were affiliated with larger groups whose total employee count was more than 500 spread across various stations or newspapers,” say Cicilline and Sensenbrenner.
More than 240 House members signed onto a Monday letter led by Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., that urges Trump to use executive branch resources to support local media (see 2004150039).
Prospects for securing emergency funding for broadband programs like Lifeline aren't directly tied to desires to include money for infrastructure projects in future pandemic legislation, said Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood. “Whatever the fate may be of infrastructure money, we think that there’s still room for -- and certainly a need for -- funding to make sure people can get online today,” including existing Lifeline recipients and “people who have newly lost their jobs,” he told us. “Everybody needs more robust connectivity at home at a more affordable rate.”
Lobbying
Thirty-nine companies and other entities lobbied Congress during Q1 on broadband-related language in pandemic legislation, according to filings made public by Tuesday afternoon.
That includes lobbyists for ACA Connects, AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Cox, the Competitive Carriers Association, Cox, CTIA, Microsoft, NCTA, NTCA, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, USTelecom, Verizon and the Wireless Infrastructure Association. They largely cited HR-748 and House Democrats’ Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act counterproposal (HR-6379), which included $2 billion in E-rate funding and $1 billion for Lifeline.
Facebook increased lobbying spending in Q1, while Google slashed its expenditures. Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei and Disney were among entities that earlier reported gains, while Microsoft and NAB saw declines (see 2004200066). Facebook laid out $5.26 million, up more than 54% from the same period in 2019. Google’s spending totaled $1.8 million, a more than 46% decline and the company’s lowest total for a quarter since 2011.
Amazon said it spent $4.33 million, an 11% increase. Comcast spent $3.75 million, a 7% increase. CTIA reported just over $3 million, an almost 4% drop. Charter spent $2.96 million, a 25% increase. AT&T spent $2.75 million, up more than 6%. Verizon reported $2.43 million, up more than 5%. Qualcomm spent $2.4 million, up 2%. T-Mobile reported $2.28 million, a 14% increase.
Apple expended $2.16 million, up almost 12%. Sprint spent $1.48 million, up more than 8%. The company since has been taken over by T-Mobile. Dell spent $920,000, a 29% decrease. Cox spent $910,000, a 2% increase. Broadcom disclosed $710,000, a 29% increase. The Internet Association spent $670,000, down almost 3%. CenturyLink spent $570,000, a 40% decrease. The Information Technology Industry Council posted $400,000, a 13% decrease.