Senate Commerce Committee members reached agreement Thursday on a bill that would speed satellite licensing by the Federal Communications Commission, advancing by voice vote legislation with additional checks to address Democratic concerns about potential automatic approvals.
The committee approved the bill with a substitute amendment jointly attributed to Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., after a previous iteration of the markup fell apart over language regarding time limits on consideration of satellite applications.
The markup had been rescheduled more than once — but it ultimately only lasted around two minutes as the Commerce panel voted to move the satellite bill en bloc with seven others.
