Politico

The Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s ReConnect broadband program is making available more than $1 billion in connectivity loans and grants for internet service providers. But applicants committing to net neutrality will get a leg up, per new USDA evaluation criteria. Internet service providers (ISPs) currently aren’t legally required to abide by anything of the sort nationwide, although California and other states have legislated on net neutrality in the absence of federal rules.

House Energy and Commerce lawmakers are offering bipartisan grumbling about whether President Biden’s executive branch is properly coordinating with the Federal Communications Commission on how to manage wireless airwaves. Their latest concern: the Federal Aviation Administration issuing warnings about possible disruption to airplane equipment from wireless carriers’ use of 5G-friendly airwaves in the C-band.

The Senate Commerce Committee is planning to pull together a wide-ranging confirmation hearing for the week of November 15 to hear from a bevy of President Joe Biden’s telecommunications nominees. The Federal Communications Commission nominees are Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who’s up for another term, and new commissioner pick Gigi Sohn.

Republicans are lining up against one of President Joe Biden’s long-awaited picks for the Federal Communications Commission — which means the outcome of this White House priority could come down, once again, to Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). At stake are Democrats’ hopes for a majority on the five-member FCC, which has been mired in a 2-2 partisan split for all of Biden’s term. That in turn will determine whether the agency can get to work on progressives’ telecommunications priorities, including a revival of the agency’s Obama-era net neutrality rules.

President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, to the permanent job, putting her on track to become the first woman to lead the agency. If she is confirmed by the Senate, Rosenworcel would lead an agency whose responsibilities include ensuring that millions of Americans have internet access. President Biden is also expected to nominate progressive net neutrality advocate Gigi Sohn, a former FCC official, to the open Democratic seat on the commission.

Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) tore into Facebook, calling the company’s stated attitudes on regulation a sham. “What we are hearing from Facebook is platitudes and bromides," Blumenthal stated. "When it says it wants regulation, at the same time it is fighting that regulation tooth and nail, day and night, with armies of lawyers, millions of dollars in lobbying.

Facebook says it does not take the political winds of Washington (DC) into account when deciding what posts to take down or products to launch. But a trove of internal documents shows that Facebook’s own employees are concerned that the company does just that — and that its DC-based policy office is deeply involved in these calls at a level not previously reported.