Will tech provisions make the cut in Democrats' spending bill?

As Democrats attempt to shrink their social spending plan by hundreds of billions of dollars in order to reach consensus between moderates and progressives, the fate of several of its tech provisions hangs in the balance. House Democrats included a boatload of technology and telecommunications cash in the original $3.5 trillion version of their spending package, which the party is planning to pass without GOP support under a process called reconciliation. The version that cleared the House Commerce Committee would set aside $1 billion to create an expansive Federal Trade Commission privacy bureau, $10 billion to upgrade the nation’s 911 calling system, and $4 billion to bolster the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Connectivity Fund, aimed at subsidizing digital connectivity for students and library patrons.

The overall price will likely fall to around $2 trillion (or perhaps lower), given the protests of moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), whose votes will be vital for passage. President Joe Biden himself is deep in the negotiating trenches to figure out which parts of the bill will stay, shrink or be cut entirely. To that end, Democratic leaders are debating whether to invest the smaller total sum in fewer priorities or retain more of the bill’s original provisions and simply shrink how much cash each one would receive.

As for those tech provisions, “They’re all still there, in the mix,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Broadband investment, in particular, is one priority some Democrats are intent on keeping in the bill. “We’re going to be fighting to [hold] those provisions in place,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM). “We’ll keep a watchful eye as the conversations continue to the end of the week. But these matter, and they’ll make a difference in people’s lives.” And Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) stressed he hopes the social spending plan delivers “more continuity and permanence” to the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which was initially created as a pandemic relief emergency subsidy.

Democratic leaders are trying to lock down a framework and still hope to move this measure and the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill in tandem.