US Senate
Senators Warren, Sanders, Booker Urge FCC and DOJ to Review Sinclair Acquisition of 21 Regional Sports Networks
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and the head of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, urging close scrutiny of Sinclair Broadcast Group's recent acquisition of 21 Regional Sports Networks and Fox College Sports (RSNs) from the Walt Disney Company in a deal valued at $10.6 billion.
Sen Hawley Introduces Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, a major update to the way big tech companies are treated under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Sen.
Sen Van Hollen (D-MD) urges FCC to not harm local public channels (US Senate)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 06/17/2019 - 10:33Sens Klobuchar, Murkowski Introduce Legislation to Protect Consumers’ Private Health Data (US Senate)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Fri, 06/14/2019 - 12:35Senators Rubio, Warner Warn Trump Administration Against Using Huawei as Bargaining Chip in Trade Negotiations
Sens Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) warned the Trump Administration not to concede on important national security matters related to countering Huawei, a Chinese state-directed telecommunications company recently added to the US Commerce Department’s banned Entity List, and the development of fifth-generation wireless telecommunications technology (5G) in order to achieve a favorable outcome on trade negotiations with China.
Sen Tammy Duckworth Joins 5 Other Senators To Introduce Bill to Address Predatory Phone Rates in Criminal Justice System
Sens Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Angus King (I-ME) introduced the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act to strengthen the nation’s criminal justice system. This bipartisan bill would help families keep in touch with their incarcerated family members, and would address long-standing concerns about the prohibitively expensive and predatory price of phone calls that incarcerated individuals at correctional facilities across the US are forced to pay.
Legislation to Improve Broadband Connectivity Passes Senate
The Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act has passed the Senate. The legislation, cosponsored by Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), would require the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Technology, to conduct a study of the effects of the digital economy and the adoption of broadband deployment on the US economy.