Even though Congress spent much of last year focused on a number of bigger-picture priorities including healthcare, tax reform, and appropriations, lawmakers also developed a number of telecom-related bills. Recently, lawmakers passed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) extension, as part of the December stopgap-spending bill, but Congress will need to pass a more long-term reauthorization of the legislation in January. Another hot topic on the Hill going into 2018 is net neutrality following the FCC’s December vote that repealed the 2015 Open Internet Order. Looking ahead, lawmakers will have a full plate deciding on whether to develop net neutrality legislation, and marking up a number of spectrum and infrastructure bills in the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee.

FISA Reauthorization -

On December 21, the House and Senate approved a temporary renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as part of the stopgap-spending bill. Congress will need to pass a more long-term reauthorization of FISA in January. Prior to the December agreement, Congress faced irreconcilable differences between three different versions of the legislation.