House Commerce Begins Aid Debate; Biden Begins Hill Infrastructure Meetings
The House Commerce Committee worked Thursday to advance its portion of the coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation measure, without getting by early evening to a section that includes $7.6 billion in E-rate remote learning funding (see 2102100061). President Joe Biden, meanwhile, sought a heavy infrastructure investment amid concerns China will otherwise overtake the U.S. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials met Thursday with Capitol Hill leaders on infrastructure matters, before an expected formal call later this month for a major infrastructure spending measure (see 2101150001).
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Biden told reporters Thursday he wants to at least “generic consensus” on the way forward on infrastructure spending before more formal legislative talks. “We're going to see what we can put together,” he said before a formal meeting with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senate Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and others. The meeting is “one of several” the administration plans, a spokesperson said.
“If we don’t get moving” on infrastructure, China’s “going to eat our lunch ,” Biden said. He invoked a Wednesday call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said “they're working very hard to do what I think we're going to have to do.” Biden didn’t mention broadband, which any infrastructure package is expected to include (see 2011200056). House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., intends to again seek $100 billion in broadband funding.
House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., highlighted the committee’s proposed E-rate money during the markup session, saying it would “expand internet connectivity to students and teachers to help bridge the digital divide for those without home internet access.” Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., called the money a way to “shore up” E-rate. “This funding is critically necessary” to address the “homework gap” exacerbated during the pandemic, she said.
A substitute amendment the committee hadn’t considered yet would decrease funding to just below $7.6 billion, reallocating $1 million for the FCC inspector general “to conduct oversight” of disbursals from the proposed Emergency Connectivity Fund. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and other Democratic E-rate backers praised the proposed funding. Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said during a Tuesday news conference that she backs “getting more money in the E-rate program” generally.
Ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and other Republicans continued to criticize Democrats for pushing forward with a markup of the COVID-19 bill without engaging in bipartisan negotiations. “The majority is moving forward with a hyperpartisan process,” McMorris Rodgers said. “I’m disappointed that this was drafted in secret without us” and released Tuesday, less than two days before the House Commerce meeting.
McMorris Rodgers and other Republicans didn't criticize the E-rate proposal. Several lawmakers instead referred obliquely to remote learning difficulties and urged the Biden administration to do more to reopen schools. A letter she and other Republicans sent Pallone suggested both parties “should continue our bipartisan path to close the digital divide, which has never been more important.” The proposed money drew praise from a wide swath of communications sector stakeholders, including AT&T, Charter, Comcast, CTIA, NCTA and Verizon.
“Still too many Americans remain without access” to broadband, said House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. He noted constituents with remote learning challenges because of broadband access difficulties. House Commerce “must come together to oversee the implementation” of existing broadband funding enacted in previous pandemic legislation “before we start blindly spending more money,” Latta said. The FY 2021 appropriations and pandemic aid law enacted in December included almost $7 billion for connectivity (see 2012210055).
House Communications set a Wednesday hearing on ways to improve connectivity during the pandemic. The virtual panel begins at 11 a.m. EST. Lawmakers aim to examine “what progress has been made to bridge the digital divide so far, and what work must still be done to make internet access more affordable during this pandemic,” said Pallone and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “We must ensure that it is treated as a necessity for all and not a privilege for the few.”