Congress restricts broadband funding tied to foreign-owned cable suppliers.
H.R. 9541 — FIREWALL Act · Filed by Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits the FCC and NTIA from giving federal funds to individuals or entities that buy fiber-optic cable from companies owned or controlled by countries of concern (as defined in existing defense law). The ban takes effect 90 days after enactment and applies to purchases made on or after that date.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a conditional restriction on federal telecommunications funding tied to supplier ownership/control, designed to enforce national-security supply-chain policy rather than to regulate the cable itself or the purchasing entity's conduct.
What the text implies
- The definition of 'country of concern' is delegated to section 4872(f) of title 10 (defense law), meaning the list of restricted nations is not stated in this bill and may be updated administratively without legislative amendment.
- The restriction applies to any entity receiving FCC/NTIA funds, including state/local broadband programs, rural cooperatives, and tribal entities—potentially affecting federal broadband-deployment initiatives if suppliers are limited.
- No exemption or waiver mechanism is stated, so even temporary supply shortages or cost premiums cannot be overridden by agency discretion.
- The 90-day implementation window may be insufficient for existing supply contracts to be renegotiated, creating compliance risk for current fund recipients.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill aims to protect national security by restricting supply-chain dependence on adversarial nations, which could benefit citizens by reducing foreign leverage over U.S. telecommunications. However, narrowing the supplier base may increase costs, slow broadband deployment, or reduce federal funding available for rural/underserved communities if compliant suppliers are scarce or more expensive.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. fiber-optic cable manufacturers
- Allied-nation cable suppliers
- Telecommunications equipment vendors not subject to the restriction
Named in the bill
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Countries of concern (as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 4872(f)), Fiber-optic cable manufacturers and suppliers
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jun 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 30, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $620,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 31 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Gus Bilirakis, the sponsor, reported $937,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- United States Telecom Assn — $620,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,288 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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