The FCC and FTC are agencies that “can operate with a little less,” declared House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., Wednesday during a subcommittee markup of those agencies’ FY 2015 budgets (http://1.usa.gov/1lDkSIN). The subcommittee advanced the bill by voice vote, despite Democrats voicing concerns about cuts. His subcommittee budget slates the FCC for $53 million less than what the agency requested -- $323 million, $17 million less than FY 2014’s enacted level. It slates $293 million for the FTC, $5 million less than what was enacted in FY 2014 and fitting with the White House budget request. The section on the FCC included funding specifications, such as that the funding is “not to exceed $4,000 for official reception and representation expenses; purchase and hire of motor vehicles; special counsel fees” and other authorized services, and that “not less than $11,090,000 shall be for the salaries and expenses of the Office of Inspector General.” Subcommittee ranking member Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., spoke in opposition to the Financial Services draft budget bill during the Wednesday subcommittee meeting: “There are several agencies in this bill that are not funded properly,” he said. “This is not a bill I can support.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had testified before the House and Senate earlier this year making a strong plea for more money, which would be devoted to such priorities as better agency IT and for enforcement measures. The agency declined comment on the House budget. “I'm still hopeful we can get all these bills through the full committee before July Fourth break,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said at the subcommittee meeting of several appropriations measures including this one, which he backs. “That’s ambitious, but you're an ambitious people.”

Democratic and Republican House members asked the GAO to conduct a study of communications services on tribal lands. “We're deeply concerned by the lack of access to communications services in Tribal communities and the barriers this presents to education, public safety, and economic development,” said a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1jzjym2) signed by Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., along with Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Don Young, R-Alaska. They asked about efforts at various levels to collect data on communications availability, “including fixed and mobile broadband, wireline and wireless phone service, and radio and television broadcast service,” as well as programs that help in promoting the deployment of such infrastructure and service adoption. They also request a list of “challenges that exist to increasing telecommunications subscribership rates for residents on Tribal lands and recommendations for addressing those barriers.”

The GAO recommended that the Agriculture Department include stimulus-funded Broadband Initiatives Program results achieved as compared with updated subscribership goals in its yearly performance plan and report, outlined in a 32-page GAO report released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/UMT5ME). GAO noted that as of March 31, 42 of 297 of these projects were killed, with Rural Utilities Service officials saying “these projects were turned down by the awardee or terminated by RUS for a variety of reasons, such as awardee financial difficulties or inability to meet requirements,” according to GAO. “Consequently, in a BIP status report as of March 31, 2014, RUS updated its subscribership estimate goal to show that 728,733 subscribers were expected to receive new or improved broadband access as a result of BIP funding.” The Agriculture Department agrees with the GAO recommendation “and will institute procedures to fully address it,” GAO said. The report also noted other struggles, such as how “reduced staffing and travel funding levels during BIP’s implementation will challenge RUS to complete inspections given the scope of the program, including 216 ongoing infrastructure projects to be completed by the June 2015 deadline.”

House Judiciary Committee lawmakers issued statements Wednesday clarifying what they want to focus on during Friday’s expected Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on net neutrality. The hearing “will examine whether antitrust law or regulation would be more effective at protecting consumers, innovation, and fair competition on the Internet,” said Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “Antitrust law seeks to achieve these goals by promoting and preserving a competitive process and prosecuting anticompetitive and discriminatory conduct -- while regulation could in fact prevent, rather than promote, innovation on the Internet and negatively affect the economy and consumers.” Subcommittee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said the “question at hand is whether antitrust law or regulation is a more effective approach to prevent misconduct and protect consumers and innovation.” The hearing will take place at 9 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pledged to modernize the E-rate program, in a letter responding to a bipartisan group of House lawmakers, many belonging to the New Democrat Coalition. “I agree with each of the recommendations in your letter and hope to soon be able to adopt an Order beginning the process of E-rate modernization consistent with the approach you have outlined,” Wheeler said in a response received Tuesday, expressing concern over timing and wanting an order adopted in summer to ensure funding for the coming year. He is “especially concerned” about lack of robust Wi-Fi in schools and libraries and wants funding allocated for that, he said. “According to internal staff estimates, allocating an additional $1 billion to Wi-Fi next year without updated program rules will allow us to reach fewer than 4 million students, mostly in urban areas,” Wheeler said. “With modernized rules for internal connections, however, E-Rate could help over 10 million students connect to Wi-Fi in their classrooms, including many in rural areas.” The FCC has $1 billion committed for 2014, with more than $700 million slated for broadband-related funding, Wheeler said.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released a new draft Tuesday of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (http://1.usa.gov/1vAZvew). The committee expects to mark up the bill next week, her office said. The bill, which Feinstein has been writing since last year in collaboration with committee Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., included many parts of the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), but has what proponents say are improved privacy protections. The bill has support from many in the communications industry, while privacy advocates who opposed CISPA (HR-624) have said they have significant concerns with the Senate Intelligence bill (CD May 15 p11). House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said last week he was “extremely optimistic” the Senate would pass its CISPA equivalent this year (CD June 13 p10).

"The current uncertainty over reauthorization” of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act “is hampering business development and further growth of the technology sector as a whole,” said an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) spokesman in a news release Tuesday. The House Judiciary Committee will mark up HR-3086 at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1kHa87B) (CD June 17 p9). The bill has 214 House co-sponsors (http://1.usa.gov/1l0xbiL). ITIF released a report (http://bit.ly/U6OG6E) last year in support of HR-3086. “The National Governors Association (NGA) is disappointed that the House Judiciary Committee is moving to make the Internet access tax moratorium permanent,” it said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1jwNz64). “Federal prohibitions on state taxing authority are contrary to federalism and the sovereign authority of states to structure and manage their own fiscal systems,” said NGA. “The markup is the first step of many to ensure consumers, students, and small businesses are not burdened with new taxes on Internet access that could be as high as double the national sales tax rate,” said Annabelle Canning, Internet Tax Freedom Act Coalition executive director. “We applaud” the committee’s “efforts and hope the Senate will follow suit in moving a companion bill prior to the August recess to ensure Congress extends the Internet tax moratorium before it expires on November 1st."

The Office of Management and Budget supports the Senate Appropriations Committee amendment (http://1.usa.gov/1kLdJBM) to the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act FY 2015, said OMB in a letter Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1pdBFDS). The amendment was expected to be debated on the Senate floor late Tuesday, said a Senate aide. The Senate amendment to HR-4660 allocates $48.5 million to NTIA, compared with $36.7 million in the original House bill (CD June 2 p8), it said.

The House Judiciary Committee will mark up the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, HR-3086, at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 2141 Rayburn, said a committee news release (http://1.usa.gov/1kHa87B) Monday. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is the bill’s lead co-sponsor (CD Sept 13 p18). The legislation has another 213 House co-sponsors. The bill would “make permanent the ban on state and local taxation of Internet access and on multiple or discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce,” according to a Congressional Research Service summary (http://1.usa.gov/1q5cbrJ). “NetChoice absolutely supports a permanent ITFA, and not just to prevent new taxes on every smartphone and household internet access bill,” said Executive Director Steve DelBianco by email. The bill “also prohibits discriminatory taxes on our online activities, like a tax on free email or video streaming,” he said. HR-3086 “would at the very least prevent targeted taxes on Internet access, and disproportionate sales or other taxes on e-commerce,” said Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President Grover Norquist and ATR Digital Liberty project Executive Director Katie McAuliffe in a letter (http://bit.ly/1q5nlN9) Monday urging the bill’s passage. The letter was sent to Goodlatte, House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice emphasized in a letter to House Communications Subcommittee leaders the importance of media diversity. The letter was dated June 10 and posted this week by the FCC, which had also received a copy. “Ensuring a diverse media landscape is especially important for Asian Americans to access information that is culturally and linguistically relevant -- including lifesaving emergency information -- because approximately one-third of Asian Americans are limited-English proficient,” the group said (http://bit.ly/UGhgMP). It backs the FCC’s “efforts to enforce its media ownership rules,” it added.