Calls for Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress intensified Friday.

At about the same time House leaders were 'inviting' the Facebook CEO to appear before the House Energy & Commerce Committee in the near future, their counterparts on the Senate Commerce Committee were doing the same.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chair of the committee, and ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) released a joint statement making the request and citing the Cambridge Analytica access to Facebook data of 50 million users.

Related: Markey Wants Investigation Into Facebook-Cambridge 'Bombshell'

“During our time leading the Commerce Committee, several questions about Facebook’s responsibilities and obligations to users have arisen even as the company’s reach and importance have grown. As a result, we have decided to ask Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before our committee," they said.

Facebook employees privately briefed Commerce Committee staffers on what the legislators were billing as only the "most recent controversy."

The did not say when they would hold a hearing and invite Zuckerberg's testimony, beyond saying it would be in the "coming weeks," and that they would work with Zuckerberg and Facebook to find a suitable date.

But they were clearly unhappy with the company. "[W]e believe Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony is necessary to gain a better understanding of how the company plans to restore lost trust, safeguard users’ data, and end a troubling series of belated responses to serious problems."

They did point out that Facebook has yet to provide written information about the controversy, with a March 29 deadline looming.

It might make sense to double up with the House E&C for a day-long affair.

A majority of the nominees for FTC commissioner told a Senate Commerce Committee panel Wednesday (Feb. 14) that they are willing to take a new look at Big Tech firms like Google and Facebook, and regulate them if necessary.

That came at a Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing on President Donald Trump's four nominees for the Federal Trade Commission: Joseph Simons (Republican chair), Rohit Chopra (Democrat), Noah Joshua Phillips (Republican) and Christine S. Wilson (Republican)

Commerce Committee chair Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said he hoped to move the nominations quickly to the floor for a vote, and scheduled a vote for the committee's next markup.

The FTC has been at only two commissioners (there are supposed to be five) for many months.

Thune asked the nominees about antitrust enforcement and calls for more regulatory oversight of "Big Tech" firms like Facebook and Google.

Related: Edge Providers Push for Network Neutrality CRA

Those firms have been increasingly under scrutiny on the Hill and elsewhere both for their size and their business practices, driven in part by the scrutiny of social media in the wake of the Russian election meddling, fake news, and ongoing concerns about online sex trafficking.

Simons said that "at a high level," big is not necessarily either good or bad. He said oftentimes a company's success is because they offer a good service at a low price, and the government shouldn't mess with that. But, he said, if a company is using anticompetitive means to get big or stay big, "then we should be vigorously enforcing the antitrust laws and prohibiting that conduct." He did not say what category he thought either Google or Facebook fell into.

Wilson said she understood there had been investigations into companies in the past--Google, for one, has come under FTC scrutiny for its search practices. She said given the "elapse of time" since those and the changes in technology, "it may make sense to take another look at concerns that have been raised." She said there is no company beyond the reach of the law and that she would support Chairman Simons in looking into potentially unlawful conduct, "and following the facts where they lead."

Phillips called it "the big question." He said he experiences daily the "incredible impact" those companies have on his life and of others, including his children. He said the FCC has a "big role" in applying the law carefully and fairly, and keeping up with trends. He said he would help keep the agency abreast of those developments and, if there are violations of the law, no matter who was committing them, the FTC would enforce it.

Chopra did not appear ready to put the hammer down on Big Tech. He said that unlike most sectors, large tech companies are competing with several other verticals, healthcare, retail, and other sectors. Chopra said it has been a challenge to predict how market dynamics occur and that the FTC needed to engage in constant learning. He also said that it was an area to be humble" and continue to "learn the dynamics."

Ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) used the hearing to put in a plug for net neutrality, or more to the point, a knock on the FCC's deeding of net neutrality oversight primarily to the FTC when it reclassified broadband access as a Title I information service in the Dec. 14 Restoring Internet Freedom Order.

"Simply put, the FTC is not the agency for net neutrality." He said that despite the amazing things the FTC does, it "does not have the expertise, resources or authority to adopt forward-looking rules to protect broadband consumers," he said.

Nelson said to look out for a Senate vote on the Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify that Restoring Internet Freedom order and return the Title II-based rules. He said his support for the CRA is not inconsistent with his belief that there needs to be a bipartisan legislative long-term solution with real protections.

Thune added a "here, here" to that call for bipartisan solution, adding: "Hopefully, we will be able to get there in due time."

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the biggest backers of the net neutrality rules the Ajit Pai FCC rolled back, also talked about the lack of FTC expertise on keeping networks open.

Chopra, a Democrat, said he shared many of Markey's concerns, and those of sitting FCC Democratic Commissioner Terrell McSweeny about overseeing the internet. For one, he cited an ongoing challenge by the FTC in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of a lower court ruling raising the possibility that some players could be exempt from FTC internet oversight, while others are not.

Following up on that, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked all the commissioners to continue to push the appeal of the court decision that a business owned by a common carrier, say Yahoo! owned by Verizon, would share that common carrier's exemption from FTC oversight, creating an enforcement gap over online privacy.

Related: Facebook to Prioritize Trusted News

Simons said he fully expected the Ninth Circuit to overturn that ruling and said it would be a "great idea" to get rid of the common carrier exemption altogether. The other nominees nodded their agreement.Simons said the FTC, if it gets back its authority in the internet space--the FCC rule rollback has not taken effect yet, and is eyeing challenged in court--it will be a vigorous enforcer. He said he did not what types of uncompetitive, unfair or deceptive practices would come up in terms of internet conduct, but if it did the FTC could reach it under statute, and if something came up that it could not reach, he would come talk to the committee.

Markey said the FTC lacked rulemaking authority to block blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, while the FCC had it. Simons said they both had rulemaking authority, just different types. Markey pressed him on the point, but Simons said he would want to talk to the General Counsel's office before saying it did not have rulemaking authority in those areas. "I'm not entirely clear."

Related: FTC Settles with Web Site Over Kids Data Collection

Simons tried to elaborate, but Markey cut him off to move to marketing to children, another of his signature issues. Each commissioner committed to "an active, pro-child, privacy protection policy." Markey said it was time to hold companies accountable.

Democratic members of the Senate Commerce Committee were not happy with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's answers, or lack of them, about recent, and not so recent, White House attacks on the news media.

At a March 8 FCC oversight hearing, when asked by Senate Democrats whether he agreed or disagreed with the President Donald Trump's characterization of the media as the Enemies of the American people, Pai would not say yes or no, saying he did not want to get into that political debate, and deferred to the White House about what he might have discussed during meetings with the President.

In a letter dated Friday (March 10) and headlined by ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), those Democratic members said they wanted better answers by March 17 and said his lack of transparency at the hearing was unfortunate.

While Pai said he did not want to get into the issue, they suggested he should have.

"As FCC chairman, you have direct authority over the nation's broadcast and media marketplace...and ultimately, the decisions that you, your fellow commissioners, and the agency staff which you oversee make affect the viability and sustainability of news media."

They had several follow-up questions they wanted answers to--it is common for legislators to ask for written responses from witnesses following an oversight hearing--leading off with a reprise of the key query: "Do you believe the media is the 'enemy' of the American people."

In addition, they wanted his assurance that he would regulate the media in an impartial manner, though he appeared to have already answered that question in the hearing, as well as committing to not stifle or penalize free speech, to using his authority in a way that respects the agency's independence from the White House, and to inform the public of any attempt by the White House or any executive branch official to influence him to take action or not take action, including on license renewals for broadcasters) and to do so whether or not that notification is necessary under ex parte or other ethics rules.

Pai had said at the hearing that he would make public any such contacts as required by FCC and ethics, rules, but the Dems are looking for more. 

They also want to know if the chairman committed to take any specific action against a broadcast or cable entity or other outlet as a condition of getting the chairmanship.

When asked about the letter, an FCC spokesman said: "Chairman Pai is a strong supporter of the First Amendment rights of the media and all Americans," said an FCC spokesperson. "He has protected those rights at the FCC and will continue to do so as long as he is privileged to serve at the Commission."

The spokesman pointed to the following disent from then-commissioner Pai in the Commission’s 2016 media ownership order.

“Of course, newspaper reporters continue to do important work throughout our country each and every day. Many were recently reminded of the impact that their stories can have through the 2015 film Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie focused on The Boston Globe’s investigation into widespread child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests in and around Boston—reporting that ended up having a worldwide impact on the Catholic Church. But given the newspaper industry’s profound financial troubles, it is becoming harder and harder for publications to do this type of investigatory journalism, hold our elected officials to account, and let Americans know what is going on in their communities.”  

"Chairman Pai continues to believe that," said the spokesman, adding that the chairman also will provide a response to the senators' letter.  

There was quite a divergence in the handicapping of the new FCC chairman--Ajit Pai--by the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee.

That came in opening statements for the Senate Commerce Committee FCC oversight hearing, the first in that committee in six years Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) pointed out, adding: "A lot has changed since then."

"The FCC’s first actions under Chairman Pai were to make much needed reforms to improve the agency’s processes and transparency," said Thune. "Counter to the trend of Chairman Pai’s recent predecessors, who often sought to amass as much power in the chairman’s office as they could, these simple steps instead empower the public and the other commissioners."

As to the chairman's early moves to roll back some of his predecessor's regs, Thune was also pleased. "While I am sure there are other actions that may need to be revisited, I do think we need to hit reset on both of these items.  And I’m glad to see the FCC has already started that process by staying certain parts of the rules that were set to go into effect last week."

When it was Nelson's turn, he painted a much different picture, praising Pai's Democratic predecessor, who he said had had consumers' backs, and saying Pai had, in only a few weeks--Pai took over Jan. 23: 

1) Acted to prevent millions of broadband subscribers from receiving key information about the rates, terms, and conditions of their service; 2) Acted to guarantee that broadband subscribers will have less protections with respect to the security of their online data, while promising to further weaken the duties broadband providers owe to protect the web browsing history and other personal information of their paying subscribers; 3)Threatened the expansion of broadband into the homes of low-income Americans by limiting the effectiveness of new Lifeline program reforms; and 4) formally rescinded an FCC staff report detailing the implementation of the agency’s comprehensive E-Rate modernization effort," an effort Nelson said "sent shock waves through schools and the libraries across the nation."

Separately, a dozen Democratic Senators, including members of the committee, wrote Pai this week urging him to preserve the program.

Roslyn Layton, who was a member of the Trump FCC transition team, agreed with Thune.

“Today’s oversight hearing confirms the new FCC, under the leadership of Chairman Pai, is finally prioritizing greater economic competitiveness and support for the everyday American consumer," she said in a statement following the hearing. "By bringing economics and consumers back to the central focus of the agency, the chairman and commissioners are encouraging bipartisanship and practical rulemakings that will allow our burgeoning U.S. telecommunications sector to reach new levels of competition and innovation.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Wednesday at the opening of an FCC oversight hearing that he was frustrated that former Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was not in attendance.

All three sitting FCC commissioners -- chairman Ajit Pai, Michael O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn -- were present to testify at the hearing.

Rosenworcel exited at the end of the year after her renomination was not voted by the full Senate.

Democrats had said they had Republican leadership's promise that Rosenworcel would get a vote after they agreed to vote out the nomination of Republican Michael O'Rielly without pairing it with hers, as is the usual process.

"The failure to confirm her [in the] last Congress, frankly, is a black mark on the Senate," Nelson said.

President Donald Trump last week pulled Rosenworcel's nomination.

"I can only hope that the White House will see the error of its ways and renominate this impressive public servant for another FCC term once again," Nelson said. "And if that happens as it should, it is imperative for the Senate leadership to live up to its promise and confirm her nomination with all dispatch."

Commerce committee chairman Sen. John Thune (R.-S.D.) agreed that the FCC needed to be at a full complement of five commissioners and also pointed out at the hearing that Democrat Mignon Clyburn's term is up in June (though she could serve until the end of the Congress after this one).

Thune said he shared Nelson's interest in getting nominations approved, and would commit to a speedy process, though he did not explicitly cite Rosenworcel.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) echoed Nelson's sentiments, saying that he was disappointed in Rosenworcel's nomination was being pulled, said he was counting on everyone to honor their commitments, and suggested pairing

her nomination with Pai's renomination was a way to speed both nominations to approval.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also put in a plug for Rosenworcel, joking that she was someone whose name was even harder to pronounce than her own.

The Senate Commerce Committee has favorably reported out the MOBILE Now Act, which promotes freeing up unlicensed spectrum for wireless, and the Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act, which consolidates eight FCC reports into a single survey of marketplace competitiveness.

Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross was also favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday by unanimous voice vote.

Committee chairman John Thune called those and other bills on the docket—which had been introduced in previous Congresses but had not made it into a law—a "clean-up" agenda before the committee starts tackling new legislation.

The bills now head to the Senate floor. The House Monday (Jan. 23) passed its version of the FCC consolidated reports bill.

Also reported favorably to the full senate was the DIGIT Act. The bill, which was introduced in the last Congress, would "convene a working group of federal entities that would consult with private sector stakeholders to provide recommendations to Congress." Those would include how to encourage the growth of IoT, seeking input from the private sector to help prevent "regulatory silos."

It would also direct the FCC to launch a proceeding on the spectrum needs of IoT.

"I’m pleased that the Committee advanced the MOBILE NOW Act to support 5G spectrum and streamlined deployment, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas, including federal lands," said Competitive Carriers Association President Steven K. Berry following the Committee's executive meeting.

"The MOBILE NOW Act will help our future by allocating additional spectrum for commercial use by 2020," said Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro. This will create better mobile broadband for consumers and is critical to the success of future innovations, including the development of the next generation of cellular 5G technologies.  

“The MOBILE NOW Act promotes the efficient use of Federal spectrum, while freeing up significant bandwidth for both commercial licensed and unlicensed use," said Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge. "The bill’s unanimous advancement further demonstrates the overwhelming consensus that unlicensed spectrum and democratized access to the public airwaves are key drivers to economic growth and innovation."

“Particularly as our nation looks to promote advanced communications, it will become more critical than ever to ensure the availability of sufficient spectrum and facilitate the ability to install robust wireline and wireless facilities capable of handling the vastly increased consumer demands that such services enable,” said NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association chief executive Shirley Bloomfield. “Therefore, NTCA applauds the aim of MOBILE NOW to streamline the deployment of communications facilities and expand the definition of the types of infrastructure covered by the streamlined process."

Ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he and his Democratic colleagues will unveil a "robust blueprint to rebuild America's infrastructure proposal at noon Tuesday. He said it would invest a trillion dollars and create 15 million jobs. It will almost certainly also include a broadband component.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to invest a trillion dollars in an infrastructure remake.

The effort by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) to pass the Mobile Now Act by unanimous consent (UC), or at least to make the senator blocking it own that process, has been postponed.

There is a hold on the bill -- it takes only one senator to place a hold -- and by making the UC request, the member, or at least a member, would have to stand up and object to passage to continue the hold.

Thune had planned to take the floor Wednesday (Sept. 21) and call for that vote, but his office said the request was postponed.

The Mobile Now Act would take numerous steps to boost wireless broadband, including licensed and unlicensed. It passed unanimously out of the Senate Commerce Committee in March loaded with amendments on everything from shot-clocks for approving facilities to dig-once policies for combining road projects and telecom plant, to a contest offering up to $5 million for the first person to come up with a way to boost spectrum efficiency.

The bipartisan bill, which specifically targets the buildout of 5G mobile broadband, was the result of months of negotiations.

“The committee’s advancement of the Mobile Now Act was truly a bipartisan effort,” Thune said following the markup. “Enactment of this legislation will pave the way to a 5G future where Americans have access to ultra-fast, next-generation wireless technology.”

Included in the bill was an amendment backed by, among others, wireless broadband spectrum fan Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would ensure at least 100 MHz of the spectrum being freed up would go for unlicensed use and another 100 MHz for commercial mobile service, with a handwritten addition to the amendment saying that commercial use was "subject to the [FCC's] regulatory purview to implement exclusive licensing in a flexible manner, including consideration of continued use of such spectrum by incumbent federal or non-federal entities in designated geographic areas indefinitely."

Among the reasons for the tough negotiations on the bill were the tensions between licensed and unlicensed, as well as commercial and incumbent government users of the spectrum. Ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he thought the bill had struck the right balance among those.

Not included in the bill was a last-minute amendment that would have helped broadcasters in the post-incentive auction repack and an FCC process reform bill amendment from Sen. Den Heller.

Also not included was a bill, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, that would direct the FCC to identify the spectrum requirements for the growing Internet of things (IoT) and study the impacts of connected technologies

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, added his name to those with concerns about FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's apps-based set-top plan revamp.

That came in his opening statement for the committee's FCC oversight hearing, so he delivered that message directly to Wheeler and the other commissioners.

Read more about the FCC's set-top plan.

Nelson said he agreed that consumers needed to be freed from paying "annoying and excessive monthly fees" for set-tops and praising Wheeler for his work in getting the item "so close" to that shared goal.

But he also said shared stakeholder concerns about the item's impact on content protection and said that the item still needed work.

Nelson warned that if the FCC stayed on the present course, he was afraid the item could be tied up in the courts for years and said that the FCC should reach out to stakeholders before acting to "get it right."

The commission is scheduled to vote the proposal Sept. 29.

Wheeler, for his part, said Congress had mandated competition, the FCC had worked for months on the item, then adopted the MVPD proposal of an app-based approach, but that MVPDs had been playing rope-a-dope with that mandate for years and that it was time to act.

Two ranking members of Senate committees, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) of the Commerce Committee and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) of the Communications Subcommittee, Wednesday called again for a vote on the nomination of Democratic FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to a new term.

They were joined by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

While the Commerce Committee unanimously recommended her for a new term, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has yet to schedule a floor vote.

During what proved to be a bipartisan vote on an FCC reauthorization bill, Schatz said that was a fly in that bipartisan ointment. He said the Senate needs to do its job, and Nelson echoed that.

He pointed out, as had Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in a floor statement two weeks ago, that McConnell had promised a vote when Democrats agreed to vote out Republican Mike O'Rielly last year. In a tradition that dates back to the Clinton Administration, Republican congressional leaders essentially get to pick Republican commissioners and Democratic leaders the Democrats.

Markey said he had planned to put a hold on O'Rielly's nomination but got "complete" assurances from Reid, who had gotten assurances from McConnell, that Rosenworcel would get a vote. Here we are now in April and no vote, he said, adding that he never would have relinquished his hold without the assurances from Republicans. He called on them to expedite the process and give her the "honor" of  being reconfirmed.

Rosenworcel's term has already expired, but she can serve until December.

Republican Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said the committee had done its job by reporting her out favorably for a vote, and that it was now up to the two Senate leaders. "We have done our part at this level to move it forward," he said.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told a Senate Commerce panel Wednesday (March 2) that it was too far in the future for him to commit to resigning his chairmanship after a new president is elected in November.

By custom, the chairman resigns unless specifically asked by the new President to stay on. Wheeler would not have to leave until January 2018.

At an FCC oversight hearing Wednesday (March 2), Commerce chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) asked whether the chairman would follow that custom.

Wheeler said he recognized the chairman's point and understood the precedent and expectation, but said he was not ready to say whether that would be the case with him and that it would not be the "wisest" move to make an "ironclad commitment."

"You don't think a President Trump would renominate him," ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) joked.

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a March 3 mark-up for the Mobile Now (Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless) Act.

Senate Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) two weeks ago introduced the bill. 

A committee mark-up is an executive session at which bills are debated, amended and, if all goes well, approved for consideration by, in this case, the full Senate.

Among the bill highlights are: (1) making a statutory mandate the President's 2010 executive order that the government make 500 MHz of federal spectrum available for private use by 2020; (2) speeding up the placement of wireless structures on federal property; (3) assessing spectrum in the 3 GHz and millimeter wave bands -- mostly in the millimeter wave bands -- for the feasibility of authorizing licensed or unlicensed broadband services, and if feasible which is best suited; (4) encouraging "dig once" policies that place broadband conduit when below-ground projects like highway constructions are undertaken; (5) creating a central online inventory of federal government assets available for private-sector broadband deployment; (6) requiring the Commerce Department to issue a report within 18 months on what other legislative or regulatory levers could be moved to push federal entities to relinquish or share spectrum; and (7) allowing spectrum relocation fund balances to be transferred to agencies for transition efforts immediately after an auction rather than after actual receipt of the funds.

The bill has been in the works for a while, but was pulled from a Nov. 18 markup because committee members, notably Democrats but also Republicans, had not gotten sufficient notice and were not ready to amend and vote out the bill.

Apparently it is now ready for prime committee time.