Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday that he and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., “will soon introduce together legislation to modernize NOAA Weather Radio warning systems.” Lobbyists told us the measure is likely to be identical to the NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act filed by Cruz and then-Chair Cantwell during the last Congress. That bill, which the Senate approved by unanimous consent in 2023, would have required NOAA to upgrade infrastructure to improve reliable transmission of emergency alerts and reduce the system’s use of copper wire transmissions (see 2312190081). It also would have required increasing NOAA Weather Radio coverage to 98-99% of the U.S. population, including more rural areas.
The House was all but certain to sign off Thursday night on a revised version of its 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) retaining a clawback of $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 that the Senate passed 51-48 early that morning, as expected (see 2507160077). Senate passage of HR-4 followed several more unsuccessful bids to strip out the CPB language or dramatically reduce the amount of funding the measure rescinded. The Senate turned back several other Democratic-led CPB amendments Wednesday.
The FCC posted on Thursday the drafts for all the items teed up for votes at the commission’s Aug. 7 open meeting. Most have a deregulatory bent.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday unveiled a full agenda for the Aug. 7 open meeting, leading off with proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Also included are draft orders that Carr said were aimed at streamlining submarine cable licensing and satellite and earth station licensing. As will be true for the July meeting, cutting regulation will be a priority in August (see 2507030049).
The Senate was on track Wednesday to pass a revised version of the 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that retains language to claw back $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027, despite opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Public broadcasting supporters continued pressing for some Republicans who voted Tuesday night to clear procedural hurdles for bringing HR-4 to the floor to vote against passing the measure. Senators were voting Wednesday afternoon on Democrats’ amendments to HR-4 after rejecting bids to jettison the CPB defunding language.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday she’s considering filing an amendment to the House-passed 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that would strike its proposed clawback of $1.1 billion in advance FY 2026 and FY 2027 funding for CPB. Public broadcasting supporters and opponents were gearing up Thursday for a showdown over the rescissions bid ahead of a potential Tuesday initial vote to begin work on an expected revised version of the measure. Meanwhile, a pair of Senate Commerce Republicans who are also on the Appropriations Committee indicated that they're still negotiating to address their concerns about how CPB defunding could affect rural public broadcasters.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Monday called for communications providers and power companies to work together in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters. Other speakers at the FCC's hurricane resiliency roundtable noted that communications between the domains have improved, highlighted by the work of the Cross-Sector Resiliency Forum (see 2504250050), which launched after Hurricane Michael in 2018.
Broadcasters urged the FCC to issue an NPRM on NAB’s proposal to allow them to use virtual, software-based emergency alert system equipment instead of physical devices, according to an ex parte filing recapping a meeting with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr. “Certain changes in the EAS marketplace increase the need for prompt attention to this proposal,” said representatives of iHeartMedia, Beasley Media, Cox Media, New York Public Radio and NAB in the filing, posted Thursday in docket 15-94.
The elimination of federal funding for PBS stations would be a blow to the ATSC 3.0 transition, said commercial and noncommercial broadcasters and advocates for public TV stations and 3.0. The transition would survive the loss of PBS station participation, but removing it from the equation would affect the reach of 3.0 datacasting, emergency communications and the broadcast positioning system (BPS), commercial broadcasters told us.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, appeared highly skeptical during a Wednesday hearing about President Donald Trump’s proposal that Congress rescind $1.1 billion of CPB’s advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 (see 2506030065). Panel member Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., also voiced concerns about parts of the CPB rescission plan but told White House OMB Director Russell Vought he wants to find a compromise. The House passed its 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) earlier this month with the CPB funding clawback intact, despite some Republicans’ misgivings (see 2506130025). Rounds is among a handful of Senate Republicans who have raised questions about defunding CPB (see 2506050063).