Republicans on a House Natural Resources subcommittee are pressing to ease the way to install and repair undersea fiber optic cables through protected coastal waters, saying the nation must be prepared to move quickly on that front. Democrats objected the bill could damage such protected areas.
Separately, Republicans in both chambers introduced bills this week to ensure the continued existence of four dams in the Pacific Northwest.
At the Natural Resources hearing, GOP lawmakers highlighted a spate of incidents in northern Europe in which telecommunications lines were damaged.
Debate over Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter’s H.R. 261, the “Undersea Cable Protection Act of 2025,” dominated a Thursday meeting of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, as the panel took up several legislative proposals left over from the previous Congress.
