Communications & Technology

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, delivered the following opening statement at today's hearing titled Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.

Subcommittee Chairman Hudson’s opening statement as prepared for delivery:

“Good morning, and welcome to today’s oversight hearing – the first this congress – of the Federal Communications Commission. Welcome back to Chairman Carr—congratulations on your appointment as Chairman—and Commissioner Gomez. I want to extend a special welcome, or should I say welcome back, to Commissioner Trusty. Congratulations on your confirmation and welcome to your first oversight hearing at your old stomping ground. It is always exciting to see a former Energy and Commerce Committee staffer become a commissioner. I know Mr. Latta is very proud.

“The FCC had an active 2025 that can be summed up in one word: deregulation. Under Chairman Carr, the FCC has taken significant steps to reduce barriers to broadband deployment, modernize outdated regulatory regimes, and delete obsolete rules. These efforts include preempting state and local barriers to wireless infrastructure deployment—which I appreciate, as some of y’all know already, I am too familiar with calls dropping as I drive around my own district—reforming the satellite licensing process, and ensuring that Next Generation 911 networks are reliable and interoperable, another issue I’ve made my top priority over the years. Together, these efforts will accelerate closing the digital divide, unleash the new space economy, and strengthen America’s wireless leadership. I applaud the FCC for this work.

“The FCC still has significant work ahead, including modernizing outdated media ownership rules. Last year, I led a bipartisan letter with more than 70 members of Congress urging the Commission to revisit its broadcast ownership caps. Local broadcasters remain the most trusted source of news for most Americans, yet they now compete in an uneven marketplace shaped by well-resourced new entrants, most notably Big Tech. Burdened by outdated regulations, local broadcasters are increasingly unable to compete, a reality reflected in newsroom closures and the growing concentration of influence among national networks and social media platforms. Current ownership caps prevent broadcasters from combining or expanding operations, constraining their ability to invest in local journalism. Updating these caps would help ensure broadcasters remain viable and competitive without creating monopolies. It would empower local stations to better compete against dominant platforms. I urge the Commission to keep these realities in mind as it continues its deregulatory agenda.

“A huge accomplishment this year was the Working Families Tax Cut’s direction of the FCC to auction 800 MHz of spectrum for commercial use. Making this spectrum available is essential to America’s leadership in 5G and 6G. I am pleased that the agency has already begun this work by identifying at least 100 MHz for auction in the upper C-Band. As the agency looks for the remaining spectrum, both on its own and in coordination with others, I know you have important decisions to make and I urge the FCC to be mindful of investment that has already taken place in existing commercial bands, such as the 6 GHz band and the CBRS band. The proposal your agenda laid out this month to expand unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band is a great step.

“Finally, I am a member of the bipartisan, bicameral Universal Service Fund Working Group. The USF, overseen by the FCC, helps support broadband access to high-cost rural areas, schools and libraries, rural health centers, and low-income households. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the USF. But it is past time to reform this program to ensure its long-term sustainability and ensure the funds are reaching the right people. Congress needs to reexamine what the USF supports and how it is funded. A sustainable USF is essential to ensuring all Americans have access to affordable, reliable broadband. Given the FCC’s role in administering the Fund, I look forward to discussing ways to ensure the USF remains viable for future generations.

“Today’s hearing is an opportunity to discuss the many important issues before the FCC. I thank the Commissioners for being here today and I look forward to our conversation.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, led a hearing titled Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.

“The FCC had an active 2025 that can be summed up in one word: deregulation,” said Chairman Hudson. “Under Chairman Carr, the FCC has taken significant steps to reduce barriers to broadband deployment, modernize outdated regulatory regimes, and delete obsolete rules.”

Watch the full hearing here.

Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05): “We’d have discussions when we talked about 4G, 5G, 6G, and I’d always ask this question: are we winning the race? Who’s our competitor out there? [...] So, are we winning this race out there when we talk about 6G?” Chairman Carr: “We are. We had fallen behind, in my view, during the Biden years. And now, we’ve hit the accelerator, and we are going to be leading the world once again.”

Congresswoman Kat Cammack (FL-03): “So many of these robocalls and some of these scam texts originate from overseas [...] Talk to me about your coordination efforts with your counterparts overseas and what we need to do here in Congress to strengthen that.” Chairman Carr: “We are pursuing, at the FCC, the idea that if you get a call on your phone from abroad, it shouldn’t necessarily, in my view, display a U.S.-based area code, because that could mislead someone to think that this is a call originating in the U.S. So, if you’re a company and you want to have a call center overseas, at least be truthful and honest with your customers. So, we’re looking at that. We’re looking at potentially doing standards for call centers to make sure that foreign call centers are compliant with our customer service regulations. So, a lot of effort was taken on that front.”

Congressman Russell Fry (SC-07): “During the first Trump administration, they unlocked additional 6-GHz bandwidth in 2020. When the first Trump administration made that available, nearly 70 countries followed our lead. Now China is trying to undermine those efforts in Europe. And we’re hearing good things out of the Trump administration defending that broadband. You’ve talked about the importance of Wi-Fi to American innovation. Can you explain why it's pivotal that America lead on Wi-Fi?” Commissioner Trusty: “Absolutely. As I mentioned a little earlier, I’ve been a proponent of an all-of-the-above approach to spectrum policy, where we accommodate a variety of users, use cases, and technologies. When you look at things like CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service), the United States has long been a leader in innovative uses of spectrum, and CBRS is a model for that. It accommodates the military, transportation, logistics, tracking, schools, hospitals, and much more. My job at the FCC is to ensure spectrum is being put to its highest and best use. Given all of these use cases, I think it emphasizes the meaningful benefit of CBRS and unlicensed spectrum.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, announced a subcommittee markup of six bills to improve public safety communications in the United States.

WHAT: Subcommittee on Communications and Technology markup of six bills.

DATE: Thursday, January 15, 2026

TIME: 9:00 AM ET

LOCATION: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Items to be considered:

• H.R. 6505, Next Generation 9-1-1 Act (Reps. Hudson and Carter–LA)
• H.R. 2076, LuLu’s Law (Rep. Palmer)
• H.R. 5200, Emergency Reporting Act (Reps. Matsui and Bilirakis)
• H.R. 5201, Kari’s Law Reporting Act (Reps. Matsui and Bilirakis)
• H.R. 7022, Mystic Alerts Act (Reps. Pfluger and Fletcher)
• H.R. 1519, Public Safety Communications Act (Rep. Cammack)

This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov. If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Noah Jackson at Noah.Jackson@mail.house.gov. If you have any press-related questions, please contact Daniel Kelly at Daniel.Kelly@mail.house.gov.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, sent a letter to President Donald J. Trump urging the administration to quickly remove burdensome regulations that have stopped the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program from connecting any American to reliable broadband. KEY EXCERPT: “The Biden administration added unnecessary and burdensome requirements that made participation in the program more expensive and less attractive to broadband providers. These include labor and climate change requirements, as well as rate regulation of low-cost broadband plans that were unlawfully imposed.  “To address these issues, we introduced the Streamlining Program Efficiency and Expanding Deployment (SPEED) for BEAD Act, which outlines necessary reforms to BEAD. We appreciate that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is undertaking a review of the program and urge any reforms to be enacted as soon as possible.” BACKGROUND: On March 5, 2025,  Congressman Hudson introduced  the SPEED for BEAD Act to remove harmful regulations that have prevented the $42 billion program from laying even a single inch of fiber to support rural Americans. Also on March 5, 2025, the Committee on Energy and Commerce  held a hearing  to discuss the BEAD program titled  Fixing Biden’s Broadband Blunder. CLICK HERE to read the full letter. ###

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today sent letters to five independent federal agencies urging the Biden-Harris administration appointees to abandon partisan efforts and instead focus remaining efforts on bipartisan, consensus items.   The letters state, “The results of the 2024 presidential election are now apparent and leadership of the [agency] will soon change. As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power, the [agency] should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial item under consideration, consistent with applicable law and regulation.”    Click below to read each agency’s letter:   Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Federal Communications Commission (FCC)   Federal Trade Commission (FTC)   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)   Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Note: In the letter, Chair Rodgers urges NRC to continue timely implementation of the ADVANCE Act. 

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), as well as Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-OH) and Ranking Member Doris Matsui (D-CA),  sent letter s to AT&T , Verizon , and Lumen demanding answers and requesting a briefing following breaches of their communications networks by hackers tied to the Chinese government. Reporting from the  Wall Street Journal  revealed the cyberattack was focused on intelligence collection and may have accessed U.S. wiretapping requests.  KEY LETTER QUOTE :   “We are concerned by the recent reports of a massive breach of AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen’s communications networks by Chinese hackers. These types of breaches are increasing in frequency and severity, and there is a growing concern regarding the cybersecurity vulnerabilities embedded in U.S. telecommunications networks. The Committee needs to understand better how this incident occurred and what steps your company is taking to prevent future service disruptions and secure your customers’ data.” BACKGROUND :   On October 5th,  The Wall Street Journal  reported U.S. broadband providers were breached by a Chinese government-tied hacker organization. The attack appears to be geared towards intelligence collection, and Chinese hackers potentially accessed vulnerable information, including court-authorized network wiretapping requests and internet traffic. AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen are among the U.S. broadband providers breached. According to the  Wall Street Journal , “The widespread compromise is considered a potentially catastrophic security breach and was carried out by a sophisticated Chinese hacking group dubbed Salt Typhoon.” CLICK HERE to read the letter to AT&T. CLICK HERE to read the letter to Verizon. CLICK HERE to read the letter to Lumen.