Obstacles Ahead for FY25 NDAA Text That Includes Rip-and-Replace Funding, AWS-3 Reauction
Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and some other congressional leaders are objecting to a compromise version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5009) released Saturday night with language allocating $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2412070001). The leaders’ concerns complicate plans for HR-5009's passage. House leaders are eyeing a vote on the measure this week. Meanwhile, some lawmakers want to attach the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-8449) and permanently lift some telehealth restrictions via other end-of-year measures.
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The attached Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act language in HR-5009 would give the FCC $3.08 billion in Treasury Department borrowing authority through 2033 for rip-and-replace reimbursements. HR-5009 would offset the rip-and-replace funding by authorizing the FCC to reauction the 197 AWS-3 licenses that Dish and affiliated designated entities returned to the commission last year. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., proposed using AWS-3 reauction proceeds for rip and replace in January (see 2401240001).
HR-5009 also provides up to $500 million through 2033 to the Commerce Department for regional tech hubs. The measure would provide Commerce with an initial $220 million in Treasury borrowing authority for regional tech hubs, with up to an additional $280 million depending on the total proceeds from the AWS-3 reauction. Any additional revenue from the sale would go toward deficit reduction. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan, a vocal rip-and-replace funding advocate, separately praised the deal.
Lawmakers’ objections to HR-5009 don’t pertain to the rip-and-replace funding or AWS-3 reaction language. Wicker, who was among a group of lawmakers who pressed congressional leaders in November to move on rip-and-replace money (see 2411190064), said Monday he objects to HR-5009 not including his Senate Armed Services-approved proposal to increase DOD’s budget by more than $25 billion. Wicker called the lack of additional topline funding “a tremendous loss for our national defense” and a “profound missed opportunity to strengthen President-elect [Donald] Trump’s hand when he takes office.” Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., raised similar concerns over the weekend. Meanwhile, House Democrats are criticizing language that would bar gender-affirming care for children in military families.
House Innovation Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., told us last week “there are discussions” about moving his HR-8449 during the remainder of the lame-duck session. “We’re working on” advancing HR-8449, including whether it could move as a stand-alone bill or part of a continuing resolution extending federal appropriations past Dec. 20, said Bilirakis, the lead sponsor. “Whatever works.” The House Commerce Committee voted in September to advance HR-8449, which would mandate that automakers include receiver technology in future electric automobiles (see 2409180047). Twelve Republican states’ attorneys general urged congressional leadership in October to “prioritize” the measure before year’s end (see 2410030059).
Wicker and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led a group of 100 lawmakers Monday in urging congressional leaders to attach the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (Connect) Act (HR-4189/S-2016) to a CR. The measure would make permanent a waiver of geographic restrictions on access to telehealth services, plus several other temporary rules changes allowing expanded use of the technology Congress enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2306150070).
“We ask you to prioritize provisions that remove geographic restrictions on telehealth services and permit the home and other clinically appropriate settings as originating sites,” the legislators said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the chambers’ minority leaders. “Congress should also expand the authority for practitioners eligible to furnish telehealth services. Rural and underserved communities rely on telehealth services, and Congress should recognize federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics as telehealth distant site providers.”