Rep Bob Latta (R-OH)

House Commerce Republicans Open Inquiry into NTIA’s Online Domain Name Registry Contracts Ahead of Renewal

In a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Bob Latta (R-OH), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) requested information about the agency’s internet domain name registry agreement with Verisign. “With both a role in advising ICANN and as a party to the Cooperative Agreement, the NTIA bears responsibility for supporting a domain name system that enables the growth of online commerce. Both individual consumers and businesses depend on responsible management of the .com system.

House Commerce Committee Leaders Open Investigation into NTIA’s IIJA BEAD Funding Deployment, Citing Abnormal Lack of Transparency and Allegations of Rate Regulation

On July 9, Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Bob Latta (R-OH), and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson regarding concerns that NTIA is unlawfully pressuring states to rate regulate low-cost broadband plans required by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. “States have reported that the NTIA is directing them to set rates and conditioning approval of initial proposals on doing so.

Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 National Telecommunications and Information Administration Budget

On May 15, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled “The Fiscal Year 2025 National Telecommunications and Information Administration Budget.” House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-OH), and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson all delivered remarks.

House Approves Latta’s Bill to Help Farmers Access Wireless Technologies

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH5) and Robin Kelly’s (D-IL2) bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1339, the Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act. H.R. 1339 would require the Federal Communications Commission to review its current satellite rules to determine if rule changes can be made to promote precision agriculture.

House and Senate Republican Commerce Committee Leaders Share Broadband Program Priorities with NTIA

House Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Robert Latta (R-OH), along with Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD), sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson outlining their priorities for implementation of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA’s) Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) broadband programs. The legislators call on the NTIA to:

Aviation conflict highlights the need for spectrum management reform

As the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce's Communications and Technology Subcommittee, we are responsible for pursuing public oversight and restoring trust in the spectrum management process, and we are committed to doing so in a bipartisan fashion. First, NTIA, the congressionally designated manager of federal spectrum, must continue to be recognized throughout the federal government as the entity authorized to balance the needs and concerns of federal spectrum users, and to communicate those interests to its governmental counterparts and the public.

Republican Commerce Committee Leaders Seek Information About FCC's Response to EBB 'Fraud and Abuse'

Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Bob Latta (R-OH), along with Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel seeking information about the agency’s response after the FCC Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that broadband providers have been fraudulently enrolling households in the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. The providers falsely claimed that certain customers’ households had children attending schools participating in the National School Lunch Program’s Community Eligibility Provisio

House Commerce Committee Minority Leaders on White House Meeting

While closing the digital divide should be a bipartisan goal, House Commerce Republicans are concerned that the Biden Administration’s proposals will waste taxpayer money without expanding broadband to unserved Americans. Instead of working to increase access to broadband for all Americans, they are prioritizing inefficient—and often poorly managed—government-run networks, providing subsidies in the absence of accurate broadband mapping data, and establishing duplicative Federal programs.

House Commerce GOP Leaders Call for an FCC Oversight Hearing to Assess New FCC Programs and Commitment to Free Speech

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) urged Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) to schedule an oversight hearing to review the Federal Communication Commission’s implementation plans regarding key connectivity programs and their commitment to free speech.

House Commerce Committee Republicans Caution FCC Chair Rosenworcel on Rolling Back Internet Service Protections for Americans

House Commerce Committee Republicans, led by Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta, sent a letter urging Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Rosenworcel not to impose stringent net neutrality regulations, which could result in Americans losing their internet offerings. Almost immediately after California enforced its new net neutrality law, two Internet providers reportedly told the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that the law could force them to end arrangements with US wireless carr