Republican News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., chair of the Subcommittee on Space and Science, introduced the Telecommunications Supply Chain Diversity Promotion Act. The legislation would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish a testbed to develop and demonstrate innovative supply chain technologies and applications, and establish a grant program to promote the participation of U.S. companies in international standards-setting bodies.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to the CEOs of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., Seagate Technology, and Western Digital Corporation requesting information regarding compliance with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Final Rule designed to restrict Huawei and its affiliates from accessing foreign-produced hard disk drives developed from U.S. software or technology.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, today introduced the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act. The legislation would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to update the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that governs biannual meetings between the agencies to conduct joint spectrum planning.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today released the following statement after the Committee approved 11 bills and two nominations, including the National Ocean Exploration Act, the Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Support (FLOODS) Act, and the Advanced Technological Manufacturing Act.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., today reintroduced the Rural STEM Education Act to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and training access in rural communities.

The Republican infrastructure framework, which includes $568 billion in infrastructure investments over a five-year period, will serve as a guide as the Senate continues to develop bipartisan bills that will go through regular order. This is the largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have ever put forth.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the Department to coordinate its new broadband programs with the other federal agencies supporting broadband deployment.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member and chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, along with Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urging the interagency Tourism Policy Council to update the National Travel and Tourism Strategy (NTTS) to reflect the impact of COVID-19. The NTTS was last updated in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to Sen. Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, requesting that the Committee hold a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight hearing to discuss the agency’s plans and timelines for developing new broadband maps.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., today introduced the Improving Minority Participation and Careers in Telecommunications (IMPACT) Act. The legislation would create a grant program through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that would award $100 million in grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Minority-serving Institutions to develop job training programs to educate and train students to participate in the telecommunications workforce.