Cantwell: USICA Passage a Primary Senate Commerce Goal

The Senate Commerce Committee’s primary goal is to get the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) signed into law, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Friday during a CES 2022 panel streamed from Las Vegas.

There are other issues, including investment in aviation and maritime transportation, but USICA is the “primary” focus when returning next week, she said. It’s “imperative” to make the major investment required to return domestic manufacturing of semiconductors to the U.S., she said. The premise of the bill is to upgrade U.S. R&D capacity and “geographic diversity” for the tech hubs envisioned in the legislation, she said.

Cantwell and Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., noted it's important to properly deploy $65 billion for broadband in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The funding will be a focus in 2022, and it’s dependent on the FCC updating its “poor quality” broadband maps, said Collins. The disparity in broadband access to rural areas is one of the lessons from the pandemic, she said.

“This is so important to closing the digital divide,” said Blackburn. Not everyone will necessarily need access to fiber, she said, noting there are other ways to deliver broadband. Fixed wireless could “work beautifully,” said Blackburn. The U.S. won’t reach its goals without a broadband network that “reaches every home in America,” said Rosen. Collins called expansion of high-speed internet a “game changer,” particularly for the rural U.S.

States like Maine and West Virginia are going to fall further behind if rural broadband issues aren’t solved, said Capito. She noted a past stimulus package included funding for broadband, but it “didn’t get the job done.” There wasn’t proper oversight, and states didn’t have the technical expertise to execute, she said, noting West Virginia's shortcomings. The U.S. needs to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Affordability will be key, said Cantwell: “We can’t just ignore the fact that so many Americans can’t afford broadband.” Middle-mile broadband cooperation between telecoms and utilities will be important in driving down the costs, she said.

Blackburn looks forward to working with Cantwell on online privacy legislation and creating a national standard, she said. She noted her work as ranking member on the Consumer Protection Subcommittee with Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on “holding Big Tech accountable” and putting safety measures in place for children. She credited Cantwell for helping the subcommittee to hold hearings on the issues in 2021.