Telecom Officials: Reconciliation Package Possible as FCC Spectrum Reauthorization Vehicle
Communications industry executives and former federal officials said during a Practising Law Institute event Tuesday they see a likely GOP-led budget reconciliation package next year as a potential vehicle for legislation that would reinstate the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority. House Commerce Committee leaders and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., have repeatedly attempted to reinstate the authority during this Congress only to have their efforts stall (see 2409170066).
NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said during the PLI event that the agency “will obligate” all $42.5 billion of its BEAD funding by year’s end and emphasized “we’re only going to realize that goal of connecting everybody if we keep the train on the tracks.” Other participants see openings for lawmakers in the next Congress to act on changes to the BEAD program and a USF revamp. Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for chairman, called at the event for a “soup to nuts” conversation about USF's future (see 2412030044).
Salt Point Strategies’ David Redl, NTIA administrator during Trump’s first administration, sees no chance for Congress to reach a spectrum legislative deal during the lame-duck session. “That ship sailed” Nov. 5, when Trump won a second term and voters gave Republicans majorities in both houses of Congress, Redl said. Congress is likeliest to have an appetite for restoring the FCC’s mandate if it’s “trying to maximize the amount of revenue it can generate in a [Congressional Budget Office] score.”
T-Mobile Federal Legislative Affairs Director Christine Kurth noted during a separate PLI panel that spectrum legislation often is “a popular go-to” addition to reconciliation measures because it’s a more palatable way for Republicans to offset tax cuts, like those from the first Trump administration that congressional leaders are hoping to extend before they expire next year. There’s a “significant track record” for spectrum revenue as an offset given those sales have generated more than $230 billion since 1993, she said.
NCTA Vice President-Government Relations Brooke Donilon said Congress will most likely pursue a “clean, long-term auction authority bill” rather than a broader measure that mandates FCC sales of specific bands like Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, seeks in his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909). That measure would require NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum the federal government can reallocate within the next five years (see 2403110066). A clean renewal would still technically create a spectrum pipeline the Congressional Budget Office can score because it gives back the FCC “authority to conduct auctions,” Donilon said.
Redl and CTIA General Counsel Umair Javed see Cruz’s S-3909 as likely to play a role in shaping a spectrum deal once he becomes Senate Commerce chairman in January (see 2410290039), even if the bill’s current language doesn’t make it into a final deal. Cruz and S-3909 co-sponsor Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., “have been very clear” that the measure “was intended to start a conversation,” Redl said: “I don’t think that conversation occurred in the way that they’d hoped it would” this year given Cantwell’s pursuit of her Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) despite repeated stalls.
Prevent 'Panic Mode'
Donilon believes “there’s a path” for Congress to “immediately address” the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in favor of Consumers' Research's challenge of the USF contribution methodology even as the U.S. Supreme Court reviews that decision (see 2411220050). “What would be really bad is if Congress does nothing, the Supreme Court agrees with the 5th Circuit, and then we're in panic mode in June or July” seeking legislation to prevent USF from turning off.
Nicole Henry, USTelecom senior director-government affairs, said it “would be fabulous” if Congress could very narrowly address the 5th Circuit’s ruling in year-end legislation to delegate to the Universal Service Administrative Co. the funding authority at issue in the Consumers’ Research challenge. It’s “going to be very tough” for the bicameral USF working group to reach a bipartisan deal, but letting the program “fall on its face wouldn’t be helpful when we’re trying to” reach universal broadband availability.
Donilon and Henry were dubious that Congress would have an appetite for clawing back BEAD funding despite concerns about how Republicans could address what they see as deficiencies in NTIA’s administration of the initiative (see 2410210043). Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week urged that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders recommend lawmakers “pull the plug” on BEAD funding as part of the group’s bid to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget.
There’s significant doubt that Republicans could claw back any BEAD funding once they control the White House and Congress in January given NTIA’s funding timeline, Donilon said. Conversely, it's “very fair” for the incoming Trump administration to reconsider NTIA’s wording of the program’s rules. Henry said the Trump administration could “slow roll” implementation of the BEAD money, but “we’re confident” the funding will remain intact.