Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., led filing Friday of a Senate companion version of the DiasporaLink Act (HR-3385). The measure, which the House passed in March, would direct NTIA to research the feasibility of building an undersea fiber cable between the U.S. and Africa. “Every day, China is laying the groundwork to dominate Africa by controlling internet infrastructure,” Kennedy said. “Beijing is building undersea cables for intelligence transmission, financial transactions and more. This bipartisan bill would help the U.S. defend American interests and support our friends in Africa against the predations of Communist” China. Warnock said, “This bipartisan effort is a crucial first step in strengthening America’s global leadership in the telecommunications space -- something that impacts our daily lives in an increasingly digital world.”

House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., are asking the FCC to examine Taiwan-based Foxlink’s purchase earlier this year of Dahua Technology’s U.S. arm. The lawmakers believe the sale is an attempt to evade federal agencies’ blacklisting of Dahua cameras destined for government facilities, critical infrastructure surveillance or other national security uses. “Publicly available information about the deal suggests Dahua’s firmware and software will still be developed in” China and “therefore controlled by” that country’s government, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Outside analysts have noted that they ‘expect Dahua to use Foxlink ... [to] claim that they no longer manufacture or produce these products. And the argument will then become, if they no longer produce those products, that US government regulations such as the FCC new device authorization or [National Defense Authorization Act] government bans can no longer be applied.” The lawmakers asked the FCC for a briefing on its findings, including “the possibility that it may be an effort to circumvent statutory restrictions on Dahua cameras in the U.S., without addressing the underlying national security risks such restrictions seek to remedy.”

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said Thursday night he’s endorsing aide Olivia Trusty to be President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the FCC seat current Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel intends to vacate Jan. 20 (see 2411210028). Trusty worked on telecom issues for Wicker when he chaired the Senate Commerce Committee and Communications Subcommittee. She is among several potential contenders to become the FCC’s third Republican who lobbyists and other observers have mentioned since Trump won a second term earlier this month (see 2411060042). “There is absolutely no one more capable of serving as an FCC Commissioner than Olivia Trusty, and I am confident that President Trump and his team will come to that same conclusion quickly,” Wicker said in a statement. Lobbyists previously tipped Trusty as a potential FCC candidate in 2020 after Trump revoked then-Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination (see 2009090001). Wicker touted her as a potential Republican FTC nominee in 2022 (see 2209130065).

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday to “withdraw” a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for its $1.25 billion digital equity competitive grant program (see 2408300003) “and halt issuing Program grants before you cause real harm.” The initiative is among the broadband programs funded via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “NTIA’s use of racial classifications, as set forth in the [digital equity competitive grant program] NOFO, does not serve a compelling governmental interest,” Cruz said in a letter to Davidson. He contends that language requiring grant applicants to prioritize “Covered Populations” violates the Fifth Amendment's due process clause because the agency doesn’t provide evidence of racial discrimination in internet access and lacks clear metrics. “The NOFO provides no evidence racial minorities face discrimination in accessing the internet, let alone specific instances of discrimination that NTIA is seeking to address,” Cruz said: It also “does not define 'minority,' making it impossible to determine whether it is underinclusive, but in any event, it is overinclusive because it includes anyone who falls into some racial group, without any determination that that specific group has faced discrimination in access to broadband.” Cruz wants NTIA to respond by Dec. 12 indicating it’s going to withdraw the language or justify its constitutionality. NTIA didn’t immediately comment. Cruz has been critical of NTIA’s implementation of other IIJA connectivity initiatives, including the $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2410210043).

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, quickly rejected speculation Thursday that he might be in contention to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee soon after ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew as the nominee. “I am staying right where I am,” Cruz told reporters. “I am not going anywhere.” Cruz was Texas’ attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2012 and is likely to take over as Senate Commerce chairman in January when Republicans reclaim a majority in the chamber (see 2411060043). Gaetz, who as a House Judiciary Committee member was involved in the panel’s work on antitrust and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 issues (see 2404120044), withdrew amid some Republican senators’ clear misgivings about confirming him to lead DOJ given he was the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe into sexual misconduct claims.

The FCC should open an investigation into a Chinese hacking campaign that allegedly targeted communications from Vice President-elect JD Vance and the presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday. Blumenthal was referring to a Chinese hacking known as the Salt Typhoon attack. In addition to the investigation, Blumenthal urged the FCC to begin a rulemaking process. Chinese hackers allegedly breached several American phone companies in an attempt to spy on American political targets, said Blumenthal during a hearing before the Senate Privacy Subcommittee, which he chairs. From a legal standpoint, the FCC can “set and enforce security standards,” he said. The investigation should be supported with “bipartisan unity,” and it can be carried over from the Biden administration to the Trump FCC, he added. Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin testified that high-profile attacks like Salt Typhoon indicate a “need to address vulnerabilities within our [information and communications technology] ICT supply chain and mitigate them wherever possible.” He noted TIA’s 2022 development of SCS 9001, “the ICT industry’s first Supply Chain Security standard.” Stehlin called for a public-private “partnership that builds in the elements needed to verify trust and continually improve.” Blumenthal addressed issues related to TikTok, saying President-elect Donald Trump can’t ignore a new law setting a Jan. 19 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest from the social media app (see 2411140057). Trump can extend the deadline once but can’t ignore the law, Blumenthal said: “If he wants to change the law, he can try,” but Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, confirmed Friday that “one of my big priorities” once he becomes panel chairman in January will be a spectrum legislative package (see 2410290039). Cruz is expected to prioritize a new version of his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909) instead of revisiting the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) that current Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, championed this year. S-3909 would require that NTIA identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum the federal government can reallocate within the next five years (see 2403110066). “Right now, there's an enormous amount of spectrum that the government owns and controls that they keep off the market,” Cruz said during a Friday podcast with conservative commentator Ben Ferguson. “I want to move it to the private sector” because it “ends up being a massive area of investment and expansion of jobs.” Cruz also expressed strong interest in AI legislation. “The Democrats want to regulate the hell out of” AI and “create essentially a European-style prior-approval system,” he said: “That's a terrible idea. It's an idea that is almost perfectly designed to ensure that America loses the battle for AI, and we fall behind the rest of the world.” Cruz wants “to maintain a very light-touch regulatory environment where innovation is driven from the private sector because I think AI” could be “the same sort of transformational technology that the development of the Internet was 25 years ago.”

Senate Republicans elected Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota as their chamber lead for the next Congress, meaning he will become majority leader when the party regains control in January. The caucus’ members for the next Congress voted 29-24 for Thune over former GOP Whip John Cornyn of Texas. Thune, currently GOP whip, was a previous Commerce Committee chairman. He is likely to continue influencing Republicans’ trajectory on communications and tech policy issues, but his elevation to Senate GOP leader revives questions about who will lead Communications in the next Congress (see 2402290057). NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield and USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter praised Senate Republicans for electing Thune. He “is a champion of our broadband future, recognizing reliable high-speed internet access is essential for education and economic growth, especially in rural areas,” Spalter said: The group hopes to work with Thune “and the new Congress to remove barriers to deployment and investment, expand broadband infrastructure and build a more connected America.” Thune “has been a champion of rural broadband policies throughout his tenure in Congress, and he understands the unique and essential role that small, community-based broadband providers play in connecting rural areas—including by serving nearly 90% of the geography in his home state of South Dakota,” Bloomfield said.

President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate a trio of current and former congressional Republicans with some telecom policy record to posts in his incoming administration. Trump appeared likely to nominate Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as secretary of state. Rubio has been a leading supporter of restricting Huawei and other Chinese telecom vendors’ access to U.S. infrastructure, including by pressing for more funding for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2211070059). In addition, he has led some legislative efforts that would limit TikTok in the U.S. Trump said he will nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) as secretary of homeland security. A former House member, Noem as South Dakota governor agreed to ban TikTok for state government agencies, employees and contractors using state devices (see 2211290083). Trump selected Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., as national security adviser. Waltz last year unsuccessfully proposed requiring the FCC to issue a final order establishing “a coordinated nationwide approach to managing the 4.9 GHz band” (see 2307190071).

AT&T CEO John Stankey urged lawmakers and the incoming Trump administration in a Tuesday Fortune opinion essay “to act in favor of broader coverage and lower prices by moving past” conducting more studies on reallocating midband spectrum bands, as the Biden administration has emphasized. The government should instead release those frequencies, Stankey wrote. He also endorsed the 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909), which “reauthorizes the FCC’s auction authority and directs the agency to license mid-band airwaves for full-power mobile broadband services. And because auctions, spectrum clearing, and development of sharing mechanisms can take years, it’s important that Congress act expeditiously next year to make it law.” The proposal, led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, “is a smart spectrum policy that will stimulate investment, and deliver better mobile coverage and capacity, including in underserved areas,” Stankey said: “It’ll also mean more competition in home broadband by facilitating fixed wireless services in geographically remote places that have been historically harder to reach with wired connections.” Should he becomes Senate Commerce chairman in the next Congress, as observers expect, Cruz will likely prioritize the Spectrum Pipeline Act rather than pursue legislation resembling the rival Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) Democrats back (see 2410290039). Stankey acknowledged DOD concerns about repurposing midband frequencies that currently include military incumbents but said “true national security requires the soft power that comes with a vibrant, competitive economy that makes America the world’s best place to develop cutting-edge technology and enables robust networks that can carry the essential load during unplanned events.” It’s “in the Pentagon’s interest to make an earnest effort to balance the legitimate needs of the military with those of American consumers and businesses to have access to world-class mobile infrastructure."