Washington, D.C. - Today, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) applauded the unanimous passage in the U.S. Senate of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (H.R. 4998 ), their bipartisan bill to help secure America’s telecommunications supply chain:
“In today’s interconnected world, America’s wireless future depends on having networks that are secure from malicious foreign interference. The existence of Huawei’s technology in our networks represents an immense threat to America’s national and economic security," Pallone, Walden, Matsui, and Guthrie said. “This bipartisan bill will help communities across the country by bolstering efforts to keep our communications supply chain safe from foreign adversaries and other dangerous actors, while helping small and rural providers remove and replace suspect network equipment. We thank our colleagues in the Senate for getting this important, bipartisan measure across the finish line and look forward to the President signing it into law."
The bill passed the House in December 2019 and is now on its way to the President’s desk.
The bipartisan Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act:
* Prohibits the use of federal funds, administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to purchase communications equipment or services from any company that poses a national security risk to American communications networks;
* Requires the FCC to establish the Secure and Trusted Communications Reimbursement Program to assist small communications providers with the costs of removing prohibited equipment or services from their networks and replacing the prohibited equipment with more secure communications equipment or services; and
* Helps the Federal government better share supply chain security information with carriers, particularly smaller carriers, to help keep this equipment out of our networks in the future.
