March 2020

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai told a House Financial Services Subcommittee budget hearing that he could not provide a timeline for when the FCC could improve its broadband availability maps, in part because of a bill Congress just passed to require better mapping. Asked for a best-guess for when better maps could be produced, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (who was also testifying) said she thought the FCC could improve its maps within 3-6 months and again argued the FCC should hold off on handing new rural broadband buildout subsidies — $16 billion worth and the

The US House of Representatives approved legislation that would institute some reforms of the government’s surveillance authority while also imposing new requirements on the way the FBI obtains wiretapping warrants in national security investigations following criticism of its monitoring of a Trump campaign adviser in 2016. The bill also permanently bans a controversial but dormant program that allowed the government to obtain Americans’ phone records in terrorism investigations.