Senate Appropriations Subpanel to Hold FCC Spectrum Auctions Program Thursday, With Pai Testimony
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is to testify during a planned Thursday Senate Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the commission's spectrum auctions program, a committee aide said in a notice we obtained. Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz and Taxpayers…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Protection Alliance President David Williams are also to be witnesses. The session will begin at 10 a.m. in 138 Dirksen. Senate Appropriations and the FCC didn't comment. The testimony comes amid a bid by subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., to retain Senate Appropriations-backed language on the chamber's version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC budget bill (S-2524) on pro-public C-band auction and 6 GHz band spectrum policy (see 1909190079). Kennedy's facing off against Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., who want to nix the spectrum text on jurisdictional grounds (see 1909230065 and 1909270024). Pai is believed to be on the cusp of proposing a private auction of the C band, along the lines of what was proposed by the C-Band Alliance, for a vote at the Dec. 12 commissioners’ meeting (see 1910100052).