Press Release

The Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act unanimously passed the Senate. The bill would:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced his appointment of Dr. Monisha Ghosh to serve as the agency’s Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Ghosh will advise Chairman Pai and the agency on technology and engineering issues, and will work closely with the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. The FCC’s chief technology officer serves as the senior technology expert in the agency. Dr. Ghosh will be housed in the Office of Engineering and Technology. She replaces Dr. Eric Burger, who has been serving at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since October.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in response to the FCC’s recent announcement that the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF II) will be replaced with a new 5G Fund.

The Department of Agriculture has invested $5.6 million in two, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 3,250 rural households and nearly 200 businesses in Tyler and Wetzel counties in West Virginia. 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced availability of a suite of enhancements to Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) that will enable Americans to receive more geographically precise, effective, and informative alerts on their mobile phones during emergencies, which will help save lives. Local officials are now better able to send geotargeted wireless alerts to areas affected by an emergency without reaching unaffected communities, which will increase confidence in alerting and promote public safety—especially during evacuations.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D-NY) proposed advancing statewide net neutrality protections. As part of this proposal, the Governor will introduce legislation to prevent the blocking, throttling and paid prioritization of online content — practices that undermine a free and open internet.

The Federal Trade Commission has granted final approval to a settlement with the former CEO of Cambridge Analytica, LLC and an app developer who worked with the company to resolve allegations they used deceptive tactics to collect personal information from tens of millions of Facebook users for voter profiling and targeting. As part of the settlement, app developer Aleksandr Kogan and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix are prohibited from making false or deceptive statements regarding the extent to which they collect, use, share, or sell personal information, as well as the purposes for

With the first year of the 116th Congress coming to a close, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) highlighted the Subcommittee’s work to restore network neutrality, combat the robocall epidemic, secure America’s telecommunications supply chain, fix faulty broadband maps, and more. The Subcommittee held 12 hearings, three markups, and passed 11 bills in 2019. Accomplishments listed include:

Today, the House passed two important bills designed to fix our nation’s faulty broadband maps.  Accurately mapping the availability of broadband internet service is essential to promoting the deployment of high-speed service to all Americans, especially those in unserved and underserved areas.  We thank Committee members for working on these bipartisan bills, and we urge the Senate to act soon to ensure the reliability of broadbands maps so investments in broadband can have maximum impact.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission  Chairman Ajit Pai concerning the troubling lack of transparency, and an apparent lack of appropriate process, leading up to the FCC’s approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger.