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Quick Fix

— Go ahead: The House is moving forward on its own response to the Senate’s package to combat China’s influence.

— Close call: The bipartisan infrastructure deal almost imploded this weekend. Now that it’s back on track, here’s what MT is watching for on broadband.

— Busy Wednesday: Lawmakers will this week consider a stack of China-focused bills aimed at the FCC and NTIA — both agencies still waiting on Biden to nominate permanent leaders.

HAPPY MONDAY! WELCOME BACK TO MORNING TECH. I’m your host, Benjamin Din. It was incredibly hot in California this weekend — and today. (I picked up a pint of Tillamook’s marionberry pie ice cream to keep me cool.) How’s the weather in your neck of the woods?

Got a news tip? Got a hot take? Email [email protected]. Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. Anything else? Team info below. And don't forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

Tech of the Town

HOUSE LEADERS GREENLIGHT KEY SCIENCE BILLS — Debate on two House Science Committee bills — considered an alternative to the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act — will begin today: H.R. 2225 (117), the National Science Foundation for the Future Act, and H.R. 3593 (117), the Department of Energy Science for the Future Act.

Democratic leadership has scheduled the pair of bills to be considered as amended under suspension of the rules, an action typically reserved for noncontroversial pieces of legislation. Debate will be limited to 40 minutes, no additional floor amendments will be allowed and a two-thirds majority must vote to pass the bills. (A final vote — typically taken via voice vote in these situations — could be delayed if hardline House Republicans continue to call for recorded votes as a stalling tactic.)

— Context: The House hasn’t taken up Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s bill aimed at combating and outcompeting China. So if both the House and Senate bills wind up passing their respective chambers, that would open the way for a conference committee to hash out the differences between them — but don’t expect immediate action, as various House committees continue to work on their own legislation.

It’s not clear what the final House China package might look like, but House lawmakers have been critical of the Senate bill, formerly known as the Endless Frontier Act, over the plethora of special-interest provisions tacked onto it during the amendment process.

— The administration line: Last week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan urged a group of House lawmakers — including Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — to pass legislation like USICA and the NSF for the Future Act, according to a White House readout of the meeting. (Meeks introduced his own China-focused measure, the EAGLE Act, H.R. 3524 (117), last month, and it’s now scheduled for a Wednesday markup.)

BROADBAND DREAMS LIVE ON, AMID INFRASTRUCTURE NIGHTMARE — President Joe Biden can now let out a sigh of relief, after a weekend filled with infrastructure drama that almost derailed the agreement. MT was watching with bated breath, given the $65 billion for broadband at stake.

— How that all went down: On Saturday, Biden released a lengthy statement walking back remarks he made Thursday that GOP lawmakers had viewed as a veto threat. (Recognizing the hot water he was in, the president personally worked the phones to save the deal, our Natasha Korecki and Christopher Cadelago reported.)

— What’s next: With that crisis averted, the Senate’s infrastructure negotiators can start drafting legislation over their two-week July Fourth recess, while committee chairs await leadership approval to start marking up the package’s components. Democratic lawmakers told John recently they wanted to mark up broadband portions before the August break, and Schumer said he wants to consider the broader infrastructure plan next month.

— Keeping the peace: While lawmakers hash out the details around funding, federal agencies in charge of doling out broadband subsidies — the FCC, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and USDA's Rural Utilities Service — have pledged they’ll work together, John reported for Pros on Friday.

Coordination has been a thorny issue for these agencies thus far. (A prime example: The FCC uses a faster broadband speed benchmark to determine funding eligibility than the USDA.) To ease those difficulties, they will consider basing the distribution of funding “on standardized data regarding broadband coverage” — something the FCC is still trying to nail down.

— Starring role: The FCC is currently seeking a contractor who can develop a fabric of data for more accurate broadband maps, with bids due this week. The other two agencies will be required to consult the map as they distribute broadband funding, under a law enacted last year.

HOUSE E&C TO TACKLE SLATE OF TECH AND TELECOM BILLS — The House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday that will delve into a slate of nine bills aimed at securing wireless networks. The bills focus on changes to the FCC and NTIA related to both tech and cybersecurity policy, with an eye toward Chinese dominance in telecoms:

— FCC: Four of the bills would affect the FCC, including two that would establish a council to make recommendations on the security, reliability and interoperability of communications networks — H.R. 4067 (117), as well as a task force to look at standards and limitations of 6G, in addition to how governments can best use that technology — H.R. 4045 (117).

Another bill, H.R. 4029 (117), would formalize an existing interagency review process at the NTIA to address national security concerns over certain FCC applications from foreign entities. And the last bill, H.R. 3919 (117), would call for an FCC rulemaking aimed at ensuring the agency doesn’t approve radio-frequency devices that pose a risk to national security.

— NTIA: In addition to the interagency review for FCC applications, one bill, H.R. 4046 (117), would establish an Office of Policy Development and Cybersecurity at the agency. Another, H.R. 4032 (117), would task the NTIA with outreach and technical assistance for small providers related to Open RAN networks — part of a push to make the U.S. less dependent on Chinese hardware giants like Huawei and ZTE.

Another bill, H.R. 4055 (117), calls for a cybersecurity literacy campaign, aimed at teaching Americans about phishing emails, proper password etiquette and the dangers of public Wi-Fi networks. Another, H.R. 2685 (117), asks the NTIA to report on the cybersecurity of mobile service networks, as well as their vulnerabilities to cyberattacks and surveillance from foreign adversaries. The last bill, H.R. 4028 (117), is aimed more broadly at the Commerce Department, and asks Secretary Gina Raimondo to lay out a strategy to boost the U.S.’ economic competitiveness in the information and communication technology supply chain.

— Something to keep in mind: The top roles at the NTIA and FCC are currently filled by leaders in an acting capacity, and Biden has yet to nominate anyone for these posts. That lack of permanent leadership became a sticking point over an amendment that otherwise had bipartisan support during the Senate Commerce Committee’s markup of the Endless Frontier Act in May. Wednesday’s event is only a hearing (and happening on the other side of the Hill), but we’ll see whether similar concerns arise and whether lawmakers will push for Biden to fill the posts quickly.

MCCARTHY LAYS OUT HOUSE GOP PLAN TO REIN IN BIG TECH — House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, will roll out their own framework to combat Silicon Valley this week. Along with Judiciary ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio and E&C ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the California Republican will propose an alternative to House Democrats' bipartisan antitrust package, which House Judiciary approved last week.

The framework will be based on the principles of accountability, transparency and stronger antitrust oversight, according to a letter sent to House Republicans and published Sunday. Among their proposals: overhauling Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and requiring regular reauthorization of that tech shield law; mandating tech giants to publicly list content moderation decisions; and providing “an expedited court process with direct appeal to the Supreme Court” for antitrust cases.

— Thumbs up from Carr: Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr applauded the framework in a statement, saying it "will address Big Tech's threats to free speech and free markets."

FIRST IN MT: MATCH GROUP COMMITS TO TRANSPARENCY REPORT — The company, which owns and operates Tinder, Hinge and other online-dating platforms, is announcing its commitment to publishing a transparency report for the U.S. for 2022. “Safety never stops, and it must be balanced with user privacy,” CEO Shar Dubey said, per a more general “impact report” out this morning and provided early to MT.

— First of its kind: No major dating platform has published a transparency report, despite users experiencing “hate, harassment, sexual assault, and downright weird encounters,” Spandana Singh, a policy analyst at New American’s Open Tech Institute, wrote in February. But Match is following in the footsteps of other tech companies, like Uber and Facebook, which do publish such reports. Expect to see data on Match’s compliance with government take-down requests and requests from law enforcement for user information.

Transitions

Letitia "Tish" Long is now on the T-Mobile board of directors and will serve as national security director. She was previously director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. … Luis Ubiñas has been elected to AT&T's board of directors. He is currently lead director of gaming company Electronic Art, and was previously president of the Ford Foundation and a senior partner at McKinsey & Co.

Former Rep. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.) has registered to lobby for Chinese surveillance company Hikvision, joining a growing number of ex-lawmakers who have lobbied for the company, WaPo reports.

Silicon Valley Must-Reads

Retrospective: Google brought Eric Schmidt on to be "the adult in the room." But his open marriage caught people's attention, Air Mail reports.

PR nightmare: “How Amazon Bullies, Manipulates, and Lies to Reporters,” via Mother Jones.

Robots to the rescue? “Security robots expand across U.S., with few tangible results,” per NBC News.

Quick Downloads

Back in business? In a new filing, Apple revived its plans to build a $1 billion data center in Ireland — this time, by 2026, via Data Center Dynamics.

Wait and see: “States hesitant to adopt digital COVID vaccine verification,” AP reports.

Hi, I’m new: Former President Donald Trump joined video platform Rumble over the weekend, but he’s still planning on launching his own platform, per Reuters.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([email protected]), Heidi Vogt ([email protected]), John Hendel ([email protected]), Cristiano Lima ([email protected]), Alexandra S. Levine ([email protected]), Leah Nylen ([email protected]), Emily Birnbaum ([email protected]), and Benjamin Din ([email protected]). Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. And don't forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

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