With help from John Hendel
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— See you at the White House: Today’s infrastructure meeting at the White House comes amid spats over the broadband plan and, of course, how to pay for it all.
— How tech executives are donating: Brad Smith is determined to get his way in Washington and a Thiel ally is donating to right-wing candidates. We delved into how tech executives donated this quarter.
— Q&A with the FirstNet CEO: Meet the man overseeing the massive wireless network that’s helping first responders communicate — and even helping streamline distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
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INFRASTRUCTURE MEETING INCOMING: President Joe Biden today is expected to host a meeting with bipartisan lawmakers to discuss the American Jobs Plan with a focus on broadband investment, as well as highways and water systems.
— Who’s going to be there: The meeting will include some of Capitol Hill’s former mayors and governors, including Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah). From the House side, Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Kay Granger (R-Texas) are expected to attend, among others. “These former state and local elected officials understand firsthand the impact of a federal investment in rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure on their communities,” the White House said on Sunday night.
— What we’re watching: There’s been a lot of push and pull behind the scenes over where exactly Biden should invest the $100 billion his infrastructure plan would set aside for broadband. The White House wants to prioritize funnelling money into “government-run or nonprofit networks,” much to the chagrin of the largest cable and telecom companies. And one industry representative told MT there’s been ongoing conversations with telecom-friendly lawmakers about how to ensure that some of the money goes toward investing in 5G.
Today’s meeting is likely to delve into some of the nitty-gritty specifics around the infrastructure plan’s investments, led by officials who actually know how much work it takes to invest in local broadband networks.
The meeting comes at a very sensitive moment for the infrastructure plan. Biden allies in Congress have started floating the prospect of splitting the package into multiple parts to attract GOP support, with some of the more traditional “infrastructure” provisions all compiled into one digestible piece of legislation. Meanwhile, the GOP and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have railed against the corporate tax hike that would pay for the $2 trillion plan in the first place.
— ‘A challenging conversation’: Just in time, Microsoft President Brad Smith on Sunday released an op-ed backing Biden’s infrastructure plan — with a caveat. “A challenging conversation awaits about how to pay for all this — including the impact on the international competitiveness of economic sectors that operate with tighter profit margins,” Smith warned.
BRAD SMITH’S DIRECT LINE: Speaking of Smith: So far this year, he has given more money to key lawmakers than any other major tech executive, according to an MT analysis. He has especially focused on the antitrust subcommittees in the House and Senate, suggesting he’s planning to ride the Big Tech scrutiny all the way to the top in an effort to beat down his competitors at Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple.
Smith this year gave $2,900 contributions to Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the top Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittees. (Rich Luchette, a spokesperson for Cicilline, said the lawmaker has a policy against accepting campaign contributions from any executives at tech firms “subject to the antitrust subcommittee’s investigative work.”) He also gave $2,900 to Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a member of the panel.
And Smith, who’s facing pressure over what more Microsoft could have done to prevent the SolarWinds hack, also gave $5,000 to Sen. Ben Sasse, the Nebraska Republican who serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which is examining the hacking campaign, and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
— Small dollars, big influence: We can look back to Smith’s own words to figure out why this matters. Earlier this year, amid criticism of the Microsoft PAC, he told employees that writing checks to get attention from politicians is “the way the political process works.” “Politicians in the United States have events, they have weekend retreats, you have to write a check and then you’re invited and participate,” Smith said.
Last week’s MT explored the contributions that Google’s Kent Walker has made. But other top executives, like Facebook’s Joel Kaplan and Kevin Martin, Amazon’s Jay Carney and Google’s Mark Isakowitz and Karan Bhatia haven’t reported any individual contributions to members of Congress since January, according to FEC filings. Not to mention the fact that an increasing number of lawmakers, like Cicilline, are refusing to take any money from Big Tech or its executives.
THIEL WATCH: Peter Thiel’s influence in Washington has subdued significantly since former President Donald Trump lost the election last year. But it’s worth paying attention to his close associate Keith Rabois, a longtime colleague who’s a general partner at Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund.
According to FEC filings, Rabois is giving his money to some of Trump’s most fervent GOP allies in Congress including Reps. Madison Cawthorn (N.C.), who’s facing a slew of sexual misconduct allegations, and Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), a member of the right-wing group of freshmen hoping to act as a counterforce to the progressive Squad. Cawthorn and Malliotakis both voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
As speculation increases that Thiel associate Blake Masters is eyeing a run for the Senate in Arizona, it will be important to track the behind-the-scenes role Thiel and his conservative acolytes will play in influencing conversation in Washington.
WHAT 5G COULD MEAN FOR FIRST RESPONDERS — It’s been more than four years since the U.S. government joined with AT&T to build out a massive wireless network aimed at helping police, firefighters and other first responders communicate without disruption. That network, known as FirstNet, is about to get faster.
In a Q&A with John published this morning, First Responder Network Authority CEO Edward Parkinson says the network is “setting the stage now for 5G” in ways that could help the police, firefighters and others using the nationwide broadband network and finding new ways to offer aid during a particularly intense past year.
— “When you look at the 38 cities and 20 venues that public safety will now gain access to AT&T 5G spectrum in April, more markets and availability will come as AT&T continues to deploy that 5G spectrum across the country,” Parkinson told John.
— 2020 proved a stress test for FirstNet, between the pandemic and natural disasters, according to Parkinson, but he says the number of public safety agencies participating and the adoption numbers among first responders are “trending in a very positive way.” Fire and rescue officials are now even tapping into FirstNet via smartphones and tablets to help with the nationwide distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines, the CEO added: “That is a new need that two years [ago], I never would have thought would have been offered on a FirstNet system.”
TODAY: ROSENWORCEL TO TALK HEARTLAND CONNECTIVITY — Acting FCC chief Jessica Rosenworcel today is joining advocacy nonprofit Heartland Forward, Land O’Lakes and the National Urban League for the first of what they say will be three workshops diving into digital connectivity issues. This kickoff workshop will focus on broadband affordability, with an emphasis on the ongoing Emergency Broadband Benefit and E-Rate subsidy expansion efforts that Rosenworcel has helped lead, said Angie Cooper, chief program officer for Heartland Forward. The two-year-old organization was founded by the Walton family (yes, those Waltons of Walmart wealth) and focuses on the states in the middle of the U.S.
BUSTED: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is out today with a bill aimed at breaking up Big Tech. It would call for structural separations — meaning, for instance, Amazon wouldn’t be allowed to both operate its e-commerce platform and sell products on that platform. Interestingly, that’s an idea championed by Lina Khan, Biden’s FTC nominee who’s up for a confirmation hearing this week. And it echoes language from Cicilline, who’s called for a “Glass-Steagall” for the internet age.
The bill would also give more resources to the FTC and authorize state attorneys general and private citizens to bring lawsuits against the companies to ensure compliance.
Kelsey Donohue, an alum of Michelle Obama’s White House press office, has joined Snap Inc.’s comms team in D.C., focused on public policy, social impact, platform safety and integrity issues.
State of the union: The Markup is out with a good rundown of the state laws that Big Tech is pushing for.
Pushing the PRO Act: “The PRO Act could help gig workers unionize. Tech companies don’t like it,” Protocol reports.
Clubhouse’s new valuation: “Clubhouse is now a $4 billion company,” Adweek reports.
Tesla crash: “Two men died after a Tesla vehicle, which was believed to be operating without anyone in the driver’s seat, crashed into a tree on Saturday night north of Houston, authorities said.” More in Reuters.
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