Press Release

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that he will be joining the Senate Commerce Committee. "I'm honored to serve the people of Montana on this important Committee," said Sen Tester. "Our state's economy will be front and center as we work together to strengthen our transportation infrastructure, boost broadband and broadcasting, and fight for higher paying jobs. I look forward to partnering with Montana businesses to ensure our state's Main Streets are thriving."

Recently, President Donald Trump attended the American Farm Bureau Federation's Annual Convention in Nashville (TN) to announce the recommendations of the interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity. The Administration is taking immediate steps to reduce barriers to deployment of broadband in rural America. An executive order released on Jan 8 – Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America – instructs agencies to remove obstacles to capital investment and broadband services and more efficiently employ government resources.

Senate Commerce Committee Chiarman John Thune (R-SD) will convene a hearing titled “Terrorism and Social Media: #IsBigTechDoingEnough?” at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 17, 2018. The hearing will examine the steps social media platforms are taking to combat the spread of extremist propaganda over the Internet.  Representatives from major technology firms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will testify. 

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to make good on one of my top resolutions from last year: prioritizing high-quality economic and data analysis at the agency. After nine months of study and extensive interviews with several dozen experts both inside and outside the agency, the working group issued a report that included some concrete recommendations. Based on the insights from its report, I’ve shared with my colleagues an Order to create a new Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA).

While I previously proposed fixes to improve the circulation process by making the documents public and addressing what amounts to stale items and those converted to Open Meeting items, we also need to update and improve the process for voting circulation items.  Unlike items disposed of at the Commission’s monthly Open Meetings, items circulated to Commissioners for consideration outside of the meetings (those on the Circulation List) have no voting deadline until they enter “must vote” status.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the January Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 30, 2018:

On Jan 9, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr was Renominated for a full five-year term by President Donald Trump.

FCC Commissioner Carr: "I want to thank President Trump for renominating me to a second term as a Commissioner of the FCC. Serving on the Commission is a tremendous honor and privilege, and I am proud of the work we have already accomplished. If reconfirmed, I look forward to many more years of working with my colleagues at the FCC on policies that will create jobs, spur investment, and grow the economy for the benefit of all Americans."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement on the proposal he circulated to improve Wireless Emergency Alerts:  

So many people rightfully believe Washington is not listening to their concerns, fears, and desires. It saddens me that with the release of this decision rolling back net neutrality, you can add the FCC to the list. In this document, the American public can see for themselves the damage done by this agency to internet openness. Going forward, our broadband providers will have the power to block websites, throttle services, and censor online content. This is not right.

On Dec 20, 2017, the Department of Commerce renewed the Charter for the Digital Economy Board of Advisors. It has been determined that the Committee is necessary and in the public interest.  The Digital Economy Board of Advisors was established on December 22, 2015, as a
federal advisory committee to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce, through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, on a broad range of issues concerning the digital economy and internet policy.