The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld much of the FCC reclassifying broadband service as a Title I Communications Act information service, with some exceptions including on pre-emption for states' own regulations. The ruling also included a partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins.
The tranche of tariffs the Trump administration Tuesday morning announced it will delay to Dec. 15 are the 10 percent List 4 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors. Earlier this morning, we incorrectly reported the tranche.
The Trump administration will delay to Dec. 15 the 10 percent List 3 Section 301 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors, announced the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Tuesday morning. Delaying the tariffs on those articles appears certain to spare the consumer tech industry from passalong price increases during the peak holiday selling season. It bears watching whether the delay will prompt a rush on shipments of those items from China, as U.S. importers scramble to beat the higher duties. There was no immediate word on the fate of other products the tech industry targeted for List 4 removal, including TVs, smart speakers, smartwatches and Bluetooth headphones. Other products are being removed from List 4 entirely, “based on health, safety, national security and other factors,” said USTR. The full and final List 4 will appear on the USTR website Tuesday, it said. USTR will install a List 4 exclusion process for products with immediate tariff exposure, it said.
The House passed the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) on a largely party-line 232-190 vote, as expected. The chamber ultimately approved either unanimously or by lopsided bipartisan margins all 12 amendments that were allowed floor consideration. HR-1644 and Senate companion S-682 would add a new title to the Communications Act that reverses the FCC order rescinding its 2015 net neutrality rules and restores reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said Monday night he's “ready to roll” and vote to advance the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) out of the House Communications Subcommittee, increasing the bill's chances of clearing the subcommittee's Tuesday markup. Butterfield is among four House Communications Democrats who aren't listed as co-sponsors of HR-1644 and was viewed as the most skeptical of the bill during a legislative hearing earlier this month. The other three subcommittee Democrats who haven’t co-sponsored HR-1644 are: Tony Cardenas of California, Tom O'Halleran of Arizona and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.
That the FCC lacks funding wasn't sufficient cause for the court overseeing challenges to the agency's rollback of common-carrier net neutrality rules to delay oral argument. "These cases remained scheduled for oral argument on February 1, 2019," said a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit order filed Thursday.
Due to the ongoing FCC closure during the partial government shutdown, the agency Tuesday requested that the court hearing appeals to its common-carrier net neutrality rollback delay Feb. 1's oral argument. The agency's request noted petitioners oppose the motion. The case is Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051.
The Senate confirmed Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term Wednesday night via unanimous consent. The chamber also confirmed Kelvin Droegemeier as White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director. A breakthrough on a string of confirmations followed hours of negotiations Wednesday night between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a Senate source said.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is lifting his hold on Senate confirmation of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, an aide told us Thursday. The end of Sullivan's hold, in combination with the end of a separate hold on Carr by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., could clear the way for the Senate to approve Carr and Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks in an end-of-the-year package that may come as soon as Thursday afternoon. Senate leaders have been working since June to advance the nominees as a pair.
At least four leaders of telecom and tech-focused congressional committees and subcommittees lost in Tuesday’s elections, which resulted in split control of Capitol Hill. Democrats had a net gain of at least 26 seats in the House and had won at least 220 seats. Republicans expanded their Senate majority, seeing a net gain of at least two seats. Three other seats remained undecided Wednesday morning, but the GOP will have at least 51 seats. Results are according to at least two major media outlets for each race.