Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Wednesday on homeland security secretary nominee Alejandro Mayorkas, while Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and other Republicans indicated they plan to filibuster the nominee over immigration issues. The Homeland Security Committee advanced Mayorkas Tuesday 7-4 despite some Republican opposition (see 2101260063).
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a Feb. 3 vote on commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo, as expected (see 2101260063). The committee voted 21-3 Wednesday to advance transportation secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg, also as expected (see 2101210065). Senate Commerce will also vote Feb. 3 on committee rules and its budget. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 325 Russell, the committee said.
Education advocates seek an FCC expedited declaratory ruling to temporarily let E-rate funds be used for remote learning. The pandemic "exacerbated the digital divide and made longstanding calls for the commission to allow E-rate support for off-campus broadband a matter of great urgency," said the petition, led by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, Tuesday in docket 13-184. President Joe Biden's executive order encourages the FCC to "increase connectivity options for students lacking reliable home broadband."
The FCC will focus on establishing the emergency broadband benefit and expanded support for telehealth, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told staff via a live video Monday. The agency also will continue the work-from-home procedures enacted by former Chairman Ajit Pai. “My predecessor did an exemplary job of keeping the agency staff informed and safe,” Rosenworcel said. “I want to assure you that the existing remote work policies will not be disturbed by this transition.” She said the Congress-pushed emergency broadband and telehealth matters will take up time in the next weeks (see 2101260053) but only scratched the surface of the tasks awaiting the commission. “We need to advance communications policies that keep the public safe and cybersecure,” said Rosenworcel. “We have work to do to build bridges and find common ground with our state, local, and Tribal partners.” The agency must ensure its “functional equivalency policies live up to our responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act” and work to “keep media policies current, while also honoring our longstanding values of competition, localism, and diversity.” She also referenced the digital divide and the homework gap. Rosenworcel said the FCC is “well-served” by her fellow commissioners and she “can’t wait to get started.”
Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughternamed several acting agency leadership officials Monday. Reilly Dolan will be acting general counsel after having been principal deputy general counsel. Daniel Kaufman will be acting director of the Consumer Protection Bureau, where he has been a deputy director since 2012. Maribeth Petrizzi will be acting director of the Competition Bureau, where she’s been assistant director in the Compliance Division since August 2019. Michael Vita will continue as Economics Bureau acting director. Sarah Mackey will be acting director of the Office of Policy and Planning, where she was a deputy director.
Three companies bought tens of thousands of tickets through Ticketmaster and resold them for millions, “often at significant markups,” DOJ and the FTC alleged in three settlements totaling more than $3.7 million. It was the first enforcement action under the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which prohibits brokers from reselling tickets at inflated costs. Just in Time Tickets, Concert Specials and Cartisim violated the Bots Act, circumventing Ticketmaster’s “restrictions on users holding multiple accounts by creating accounts in the names of family members, friends, and fictitious individuals, and using hundreds of credit cards,” DOJ said. “They also allegedly used ticket bots to fool tests designed to prevent nonhuman visitors.” Defendants used programs to conceal their IP addresses, DOJ said. A court levied civil penalties of $11.2 million against Just in Time Tickets, $16 million against Concert Specials and $4.4 million against Cartisim. The penalties will be suspended if the defendants pay $1.6 million, $1.6 million and about $500,000, respectively, while adhering to other terms, DOJ said: “Due to their inability to pay, the judgment will be partially suspended, requiring them to pay $3.7 million.” An attorney for the companies declined comment. “Not only does this deprive loyal fans of the chance to see their favorite performers and shows, it is against the law,” said FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith.
Keep consumers "front of mind" as the FCC prepares to roll out its emergency broadband connectivity fund, Common Cause, the National Consumer Law Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and United Church of Christ told acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per a filing posted Friday in docket 20-445. The groups raised the importance of outreach and education about the fund and what happens when the program ends (see 2101070052). They want "price transparency requirements" for providers that opt in so eligible households know the total cost if they enroll. And "ensuring portability of the benefit to allow consumers to shop with their feet is another important program design feature." Pay special attention to non-English-speaking consumers and individuals with disabilities, the groups said.
Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks criticized the FCC releasing its annual broadband deployment report Tuesday, the day before a new administration entered the White House. Rosenworcel said that it "confounds logic" to say that broadband is being deployed to "all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion," citing the continued disparity for students participating in remote learning. The Telecom Act Section 706 report concluded that using a long-term goal for broadband connectivity of 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff was no longer a meaningful measure of progress because 99% of school districts met its short-term goal of 100 Mbps per 1,000 people. Starks said "patting ourselves on the back is particularly unseemly" and Chairman Ajit Pai's refusal to withdraw the document based on its not having legal significance is "plainly inconsistent" with the Telecom Act. Starks said the determination should have been left to the Biden administration. The agency found 3-2 that advanced telecom capability is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis "based on compelling evidence." The gap between urban and rural Americans with access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service fell to 16 percentage points at the end of 2019, and mobile providers offered 5G to nearly 60% of the population. The commission found a decrease of more than 20% in Americans without access to 25/3 Mbps. "These successes resulted from forward-thinking policies that removed barriers to infrastructure investment and promoted competition and innovation," Pai said in his last full day as FCC chief. Commissioner Brendan Carr said that the report "confirms that our efforts have enabled the private sector to build out high-speed internet infrastructure at an unprecedented pace." Commissioner Nathan Simington didn't issue a statement.
Charter Communications dropped its quest to have the FCC sunset two conditions put on the Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks transaction (see 2006180050), the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday. That means the data caps and settlement-free interconnection conditions will remain until May 18, 2023, it said. Charter told us that with some conditions vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2008140040) and the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on subscribers, "we want to offer them the assurance that they will continue to benefit from unlimited access to broadband and the accompanying financial certainty it provides during these trying times" and thus withdrew the petition. Incompas said the withdrawal "is good news for consumers and open internet advocates. Pressure from Congress, consumer groups and small business leaders helped walk back the cable giant, but it’s a clear sign for why we need strong interconnection and open internet policy on the books to prevent these attempts to raise prices and inflate consumers’ bills.”
A distributed transmission system signal “is a broadcast TV signal by any other name,” and TV white space rules should apply, said Microsoft in a call with aides to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Tuesday, per a filing posted in docket 20-74 Friday. The FCC should maintain existing rules and institute an expedited waiver process for ATSC 3.0 stations that seek to allow the DTS signal to extend a minimal amount beyond their current maximum service areas, Microsoft said. The agency's DTS item has sufficient votes for approval (see 2101050063).