Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are trying to get a bill to increase antitrust enforcer funding added to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s funding bill for FY 2021, Klobuchar told us. The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act would update those fees for the first time since 2001. When Grassley and Klobuchar introduced the bill in June 2019, they said the fee for a “$900 million deal should not be the same as the fee for a $60 billion deal.”
If Communications Decency Act Section 230 is revised with more regulatory burden, it will entrench incumbents and result in more government involvement in communication channels, Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff told C-SPAN's The Communicators, scheduled to have been telecast over the weekend. She dismissed concerns about hate speech and hate groups proliferating on Parler, saying the tech industry’s liability shield is working as intended. Her comments followed a Simon Wiesenthal Center report claiming the platform is attracting online extremists and harmful content.
Sidewalk, Amazon's low-bandwidth network enabler, isn't yet live even as Echo smart speaker users saw the feature activated by default on the Alexa app beginning in late November. “We started notifying existing Echo customers with eligible Echo devices that their devices will be a part of Sidewalk and how they can change their preferences before the feature turns on,” an Amazon spokesperson emailed. Customers can update their Sidewalk preferences, including turning off the feature, during device setup or anytime in the Alexa app settings, the spokesperson said.
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s departure from the FCC “looks to be on track for some point next week,” he said Friday in a goodbye email with an accompanying video message sent out to all FCC staff. In the video, O’Rielly said his “FCC end date is soon approaching in the days or weeks ahead.” His office said O’Rielly intends to serve the rest of his term, which could include Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting, depending on the confirmation status of his projected replacement, Nathan Simington. In the video, O’Rielly hinted at a future endeavor involving communications policy or lobbying the agency, and profusely thanked FCC staff. “Commissioners are temporary employees, merely visitors occupying a seat at the institution, until the next person arrives,” he said.
An omnibus FY 2021 appropriations measure under negotiation is likely to include funding for the FCC to implement the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (S-1822), said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Thursday. He told a USTelecom webinar that he believes movement on infrastructure legislation like the House-passed Moving Forward Act (HR-2) is “not going to happen” during the waning days of the lame-duck session, but “hopefully we can get it passed” and enacted after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Many advocates of federal broadband spending are optimistic a Biden administration will be able to reach a deal with Congress on infrastructure legislation (see 2011200056).
Congress should “do away” with Communications Decency Act Section 230 but not through the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., told reporters Wednesday. He said negotiators won’t include Section 230 language in the final bill, despite a veto threat from President Donald Trump (see 2012010064). Section 230 “has nothing to do with the military, and I agree with his sentiments we ought to do away with 230, but you can’t do it in this bill,” Inhofe said, citing it as a nonstarter for Democrats.
Senate Republican leaders are eyeing a floor vote as soon as next week to confirm FCC nominee Nathan Simington, setting up what’s likely to be a partisan showdown over the prospect of a 2-2 commission deadlock at the start of President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration. The Commerce Committee advanced Simington Wednesday, as expected (see 2012010064), on a 14-12 party-line vote. Senate Democrats are already watching the potential implications for Biden’s pick for the party’s third FCC seat, when Chairman Ajit Pai leaves Jan. 20 (see 2011300032).
The number of retail shoppers from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday dropped from 189.6 million in a thriving 2019 to 186.4 million this year, reported the National Retail Federation Tuesday. CEO Matthew Shay cited the early start to the holiday season -- three months long this year vs. the traditional November-December span -- as one factor behind the lower in-store and online traffic during the holiday weekend. Last year’s late Thanksgiving meant fewer shopping days until Christmas, he noted. About 166 million consumers shopped the five-day period in 2018.
The Senate Commerce Committee appeared on track before its Wednesday meeting to advance FCC nominee Nathan Simington’s confirmation to the full chamber. That's despite continued uncertainty about whether panel member Dan Sullivan of Alaska will join other Republicans in backing the nominee. Opponents of Simington’s confirmation claim President Donald Trump picked him to displace Commissioner Mike O’Rielly because the nominee supports the push for a rulemaking on its Communications Decency Act Section 230 interpretation (see 2011100070).
Backers and some critics of Ajit Pai agreed he was a particularly effective FCC chairman, leaving behind a legacy of major accomplishments and changes. Pai announced Monday he will step down on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 (see 2011300020). Supporters said his scorecard includes enacting policies that accelerated broadband deployment and steering the agency through the pandemic.