Overnight Tech: Internet subsidy cap advances; Librarian nominee heads before Senate

LEDE: President Obama’s nominee to be the next librarian of Congress is slated to testify at the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.

If confirmed, Carla Hayden would be the first black or female librarian of Congress. Hayden is a veteran of the American Library Association and the current chief executive of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

{mosads}She would also be the first new librarian since the Reagan administration. The Obama administration is looking to replace former librarian James Billington, whose final years were marked by criticism of the library’s IT infrastructure and policies, among other things.

More broadly, the Senate is locked in a contentious fight over President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. And no confirmation vote is a guarantee in a heated election year.

Hayden was confirmed by the Senate to another post in 2010. 

Click here for more about her nomination.

‘OPTIONS OPEN’ ON LIFELINE INVESTIGATION: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is hoping the inspector general at the Federal Communications Commission takes a “good hard look” at the potential leak of private information ahead of a high-profile vote at the agency last month to overhaul the Lifeline program. Thune said “we’ll keep our options open” when asked if the Senate would take up an investigation if the FCC didn’t act.

“We’d like to see the inspector general look into that,” he told reporters. “That was the purpose of the letter. And I’m hopeful that they’ll accept the challenge to do that. Our committee will continue to do oversight as we have opportunities and receive information about things that the FCC is doing and some of the questions that have been raised about. Lifeline is one example but there have been others as well.”

INSPECTOR GENERAL: An official in the FCC inspector general’s office said if Thune wants an investigation, the watchdog will act appropriately. Even with a specific request from a senator, the IG would likely wait to see what FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler decides, according to the official. A spokesperson for Wheeler has not commented on whether the chairman will ask for an investigation.

TECH SUBCOMMITTEE CLEARS LIFELINE CAP: The Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to approve a bill that would put a $1.5 billion hard yearly cap on the Lifeline subsidy program. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said that he was trying to serve both ratepayers and subsidy recipients. But Democrats pained Republicans as interested in ripping subsidies from consumers who desperately need them. “Why are we hurting these people?,” said subcommittee ranking member Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) “What did they ever do to you that you want to do this to them? Don’t do this.” Read our full file from the markup here.

WALDEN QUESTIONS TOTAL CALL FINE: Walden also questioned the timing of the FCC’s fine against Lifeline provider Total Call Mobile for fraud, which came just one day after the commission voted to expand the program to broadband service. “The timeline of the FCC’s actions and inaction suggest the possibility that something was going on down there at the FCC,” he said. “That they didn’t want this released but, interestingly enough, it was released the day after the commissioners had to vote on this expansion of the program.”

THE ORACLE OF THE EIGHTH FLOOR?: Eshoo also got a dig in at Republicans over what she said was a devotion to the statements of Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai. “I know you have issues with the FCC,” she said. “I know that every time the oracle Mr. Pai speaks, everybody jumps up and down.”

EU CHARGES AGAINST GOOGLE COULD COME WEDNESDAY: Multiple news outlets are reporting that European Union antitrust officials as early as Wednesday are slated to charge Google for allegedly favoring some of its own apps on the Android smartphone operating system, also owned by Google. Officials have been investigating the operating system for months now.

360 CAMERA: The White House is using a 360-degree camera to get shots of the president for a video to be unveiled during the White House Correspondents Dinner at the end of the month. The camera was positioned in the White House briefing room Tuesday as well as the South Lawn as when President Obama boarded Marine One.

SENATORS TO MEET WITH LAWYER WHO REPRESENTED APPLE: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Wednesday is hosting a question and answer session with fellow senators on lingering questions about the FBI fight with Apple over its encryption technology. Hatch has invited attorney Ted Olson to answer question in a closed-door meeting with senators. Olson led Apple’s legal team in recent litigation over the unlocking of a phone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

ON TAP:

At 2:15 p.m., the Senate Rules Committee will hear testimony from the librarian of Congress nominee, Carla Hayden.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Publishers and filmmakers should be wary of Democrats at the Federal Election Commission trying to squeeze them out of an exemption created for the press, according to FEC Republican Commissioner Lee Goodman.

Apple and Google should police their app stores to eliminate fully encrypted foreign communication apps, law enforcement officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

Apple received 4,000 requests for device data from American law enforcement in the second half of 2015, according to its most recent transparency report.

The United States has seen a sharp rise in families that exclusively rely on smartphones or mobile connections for home internet use.

A top Republican lawmaker on tech issues said the House should look into whether mobile phone networks are vulnerable to hackers.

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