Guthrie: Spectrum on 'Menu' for Reconciliation Ahead of Newcomer-Focused House Hearing
House Commerce Committee leaders are cautioning that the Communications Subcommittee’s planned Thursday spectrum policy hearing isn’t necessarily an indication that the panel will seek early action on an airwaves legislative package. Some lawmakers and lobbyists instead said the hearing is aimed at educating the subpanel’s crop of new members on the complicated dynamics at play in the spectrum legislative debate. New House Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and other Republicans are eyeing using an upcoming budget reconciliation package to move on spectrum legislation (see 2501070069).
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Guthrie told us Wednesday that a spectrum title remains “on the menu” for reconciliation, and “the big debate we have to figure out is if it’s going to be” just “reauthorizing [the FCC’s lapsed] spectrum authority or the pipeline approach where we direct that authority,” as Senate Commerce Committee now-Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed in his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act. That bill proposes requiring NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum to reallocate within the next five years (see 2403110066). Guthrie said he and Cruz “have had discussions” about the path forward but wouldn’t say whether they’re in agreement.
House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., emphasized that House Commerce leaders “haven't gotten as far as” deciding whether to pursue a legislative package independent of what Senate Commerce pursues or if they will be ready to include it in a reconciliation package. She planned a prehearing meeting with new House Communications Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., to review where they already have bipartisan agreement on spectrum legislative issues. “We'd like to start off” in the spirit of trying to “get along,” Matsui told us.
Matsui noted House Communications' many “new players” must come up to speed on spectrum issues, but that also means their “fresh eyes” might help find new avenues for compromise after negotiations stalled during the last Congress (see 2410290039). A House GOP aide said Commerce leaders want the spectrum hearing to educate newcomers, given there are five new Republicans and eight new Democrats on Communications (see 2501150056). A House Commerce GOP memo doesn’t mention the spectrum bills lawmakers pursued during the last Congress.
American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling told us Guthrie and House Commerce have an opening to preemptively pursue their own approach, as they did in the 2023 Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (see 2305240069), given that Cruz's proposal didn’t “have the most support in the world” as filed last year. The Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act paired renewal of the FCC’s authority with language allowing future spectrum sales to pay for a range of telecom priorities. “Hopefully this hearing will be able to give us a little bit of insight into what [House Communications members are] thinking,” because many “open questions” remain about the path forward, Westling said.
Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation broadband and spectrum policy director, said the emphasis appears to be on “restarting” the spectrum debate with “more negotiating time,” because the underlying dynamics are the same as last year. “The main sticking point is whether you identify bands” via a “pipeline bill or just pursue a blanket” reauthorization of the FCC's mandate, he said.
Testimony
NCTA CEO Michael Powell, CTIA Executive Vice President Brad Gillen and other witnesses scheduled to appear at the Thursday hearing emphasize in written testimony the need for prompt action on Capitol Hill to restore the FCC’s auction mandate, but they diverge on other proposals for an ideal spectrum package. Congress and the Trump administration “have multiple spectrum solutions” available, Gillen says. He notes that the Biden administration identified 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7/8 GHz as “the most promising global bands for future use.” Gillen also highlights “an additional 220 megahertz of C-Band spectrum” that policymakers could make available for commercial use.
Powell emphasizes “coexistence through spectrum sharing,” which “opens a path to a sustainable and scalable spectrum pipeline.” NCTA “supports the extension of the FCC auction authority,” but Congress should not “favor exclusive license auctions over shared-license auctions and unlicensed Wi-Fi designations,” he says. The U.S. should instead “study a shared-license auction” for the lower 3 GHz band and Wi-Fi in the 7 GHz band.
Open RAN Policy Coalition Executive Director Diane Rinaldo urges that the federal government require “collaboration among federal agencies and” the private sector and “prioritize working with federal and private users alike to develop pilot use cases that may provide breakthroughs in dynamic spectrum sharing.” A “long-term plan” must also “prioritize investments in research and development to explore new ways of utilizing spectrum,” including millimeter-wave and terahertz bands, she says.
Public Knowledge CEO Chris Lewis wants Congress to make the FCC's auction authority permanent, because giving the mandate an expiration date “stems entirely from the desire to keep using spectrum auction revenue as a perpetually available ‘pay for.’” License sales revenue “should not simply be used for deficit reduction or to offset general spending,” he says. “Instead, the revenue should fund infrastructure development and affordability programs directly related to broadband access, or to public safety investment.”