Rep. Latta Eying Energy and Commerce Chair

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2024 – Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, current head of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, is making plans to seek the top position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to a published report. 

That’s assuming Republicans retain control of the House. According to CBS News, the House GOP has 215 seats, three short of a majority, with about a dozen more races to call.

The committee chairmanship is open because current Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is retiring in January.

The contest to replace McMorris Rodgers is expected to be competitive. Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky is expected to run against Latta for the post.

The Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction is broad. It oversees the Federal Communications Commission and various components of the communications sector, including broadband Internet Service Providers, cable companies, broadcasters, and wireline and wireless phone companies.

Previously overlooked in favor of Rodgers in the 2020 leadership race, Latta, now the most tenured candidate as a member of Congress since 2007, is seen as a strong contender for the role. 

Throughout the 118th Congress, Latta was instrumental in advancing several bills to address emerging security and infrastructure needs in the communications sector.

Latta led the NTIA Reauthorization Act, which reauthorized the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the first time in more than 30 years and required the development of a national strategy to close the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all U.S. residents.

Under Latta’s leadership, the House Communications Subcommittee passed five bills to secure U.S. communications infrastructure from espionage, all of which advanced to the Senate. Of those, Latta sponsored the ROUTERS Act, directing the NTIA to assess whether routers and modems made by companies linked to adversarial nations pose a security threat. 

Latta also helped to sure House passage of the 5G SALE Act, which would reinstate limited FCC spectrum auction authority, and he has been urging Congress to take more decisive action in fully restoring the FCC’s spectrum licensing authority, since it lapsed in March 2023.

Latta has also been involved in efforts to reform the Universal Service Fund. In September, he highlighted his preference for long-term funding solutions over short-term measures in funding broadband.