Politico

Rep Greg Walden (R-OR), one of the most influential conservative figures in the technology and telecommunications policy landscape, is set to retire from Congress. He pushed back on GOP-led calls for the Federal Communications Commission to step in on Section 230, even as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai faces pressure to do so before he leaves the agencyin January: “I'm not so sure that I want the FCC in the middle of all of this,” Rep Walden said. “Even if some think they have the authority, I'm not convinced that's the case.

Carolyn Roddy is now listed as acting chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration following previous acting Administrator Adam Candeub’s jump to the Justice Department.

Adam Candeub, the acting head of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, has been named deputy associate attorney general. The political appointment does not require congressional confirmation. Candeub helped lead President Donald Trump’s crackdown against social media companies. Candeub has played a central role in carrying out Trump’s executive order targeting social media companies like Twitter and Facebook over allegations they censor conservative viewpoints.

Outgoing-Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly participated in his final FCC meeting Dec 10 before Nathan Simington is sworn in to take his seat as one of the agency’s Republican commissioners. Although there were many appreciative send-offs, the departing commissioner also touched on the hot-button tech issue that likely led to President Donald Trump killing his renomination this past summer: Section 230.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr endorsed Simington’s nomination, saying he needs another Republican alongside him on the five-member commission come Inauguration Day to stymie Democrats in a deadlocked 2-2 FCC. “It’d be very valuable to get Simington across the finish line to help forestall what really would be billions of dollars worth of economic damage that I think a [Democratic] FCC would look to jam through from Day 1,” Commissioner Carr cautioned during an appearance on Fox Business.

House Republicans tapped Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) to lead the party on the House Commerce Committee, making her the first woman to hold a leadership role at the committee that has sweeping authority over the nation’s health care, technology, environmental and energy policy. Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers beat Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Bob Latta (R-OH) to win the position. Rep McMorris Rodgers will replace retiring Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR).

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers, including Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), is allocating $10 billion for broadband connectivity as part of its $908 billion emergency relief plan.

Republican lawmakers vying for the prized ranking member role on the House Commerce Committee will make their case to the Republican Steering Committee, with a decision expected Dec 2.

With only a handful of days to go in 2020’s legislative session, rural telecom carriers are hoping Congress delivers the estimated $1.5 billion needed to remove the gear from China’s Huawei and ZTE still present in the networks of at least a few dozen of them. The Federal Communications Commission has already cut off access to telecom subsidies for small carriers using such equipment, which is deemed a threat to US national security. One likely potential source of this cash: Capitol Hill’s forthcoming package to fund the government beyond Dec. 11.