Cruz, Hudson: Spectrum Reconciliation Possible Despite DOD Backers' Warnings
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other leaders acknowledged in recent interviews that long-standing DOD objections to repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other military-controlled frequencies remain an impediment to GOP hopes of using an upcoming budget reconciliation package to move on spectrum legislation (see 2501070069). Lawmakers and lobbyists said DOD concerns could prevent Congress from including anything beyond a simple restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority in a reconciliation package, an outcome that would fall short of wireless industry wishes for a refilled spectrum pipeline.
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Cruz acknowledged in an interview that DOD’s concerns about repurposing military-controlled airwaves are a long-standing “tension,” but “I believe we’ll get a result” in reconciliation that will aid U.S. wireless leadership and assuage military supporters. Cruz said he's telling DOD supporters it’s “absolutely critical that the U.S. win the race for 5G and 6G,” because “if we lose to our competitors, that has devastating consequences to the American economy and also to our national security.”
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., also said he thinks lawmakers can “find a path forward that everyone can be comfortable with” and that will “strike the right balance and make sure that DOD is protected.” Subpanel members debated the matter during a spectrum hearing last week (see 2501230064).
Lobbyists said Cruz is pushing for a reconciliation package to include language mirroring his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act, which proposes requiring that NTIA identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum to reallocate within the next five years (see 2403110066). House Communications Vice Chairman Rick Allen, R-Ga., filed a new House version of the measure (HR-651) last week. Cruz touted the proposal during Senate Commerce’s Wednesday confirmation hearing for commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick (see 2501290047).
Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and other congressional opponents of repurposing DOD-controlled spectrum are already voicing hostility toward proposals, like the Spectrum Pipeline Act, that would advance reallocation of those frequencies. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a dual Armed Services-Commerce member in line to become Communications Subcommittee chair, are also publicly raising concerns.
Rounds told us he will object to any reconciliation language that could reallocate parts of the lower 3 GHz band, in keeping with his 2022 torpedo of a bid to pass a compromise spectrum legislative deal because it included sales of that frequency (see 2212190069). He clarified that he doesn't oppose a “clean” renewal of the FCC's auction authority, although he would “have to see what they're proposing” to keep DOD spectrum off-limits. Rounds said he “can't support getting into the DOD portion of the spectrum until we have an agreement on dynamic spectrum sharing or another alternative method that would protect” military interests.
Cantwell, Fischer Forecast Trouble
Fischer told Lutnick during the Wednesday confirmation hearing that “DOD airwaves are not lying dormant and that proposals to clear them would jeopardize our national security.” She cited “constellations of DOD satellites” and other military incumbents that rely on DOD-controlled frequencies. Lutnick said the Commerce Department must be “working closely with [DOD] to make sure we protect our national security,” but “generational spectrum is important. Let’s work together. Let’s unleash the spectrum if we can.”
Communications lobbyists said objections from DOD Hill backers make it much likelier that congressional leaders will pursue attaching only FCC auction renewal language to a reconciliation package. Lobbyists said such a move could reduce the value of a spectrum title as a tax-cut offset, but they estimate that the Congressional Budget Office could still score a 10-year reauthorization without band mandates at $67 billion-$70 billion.
Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us that Cruz and other leaders will face the same headwinds from DOD supporters and others that she encountered during the last Congress, when the lower 3 GHz issue and others stalled negotiations. As Senate Commerce chair last year, Cantwell worked to get the Biden administration's DOD and Commerce Department leaders to sign off on her Spectrum and National Security Act, which lacked authorization for substantial bandwidth but still faced opposition from panel members who were also Armed Services members (see 2406180067).
The interagency debate between DOD and others “trying to get an agreement that people feel comfortable” with will definitely “raise its head again,” Cantwell told us. “I don’t think it’s a good idea” to tackle such complicated issues as part of an abbreviated reconciliation process, although GOP leaders are “probably not counting on my vote” or those of other Democrats, because such packages don’t need to clear the Senate’s normal 60-vote cloture threshold.
House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she is “sure we can work out” a spectrum compromise again with DOD interests, given a history of past successful negotiations. “I just can’t see us fighting about this all the time,” but negotiations could take longer than the reconciliation timeline that Republicans envision, she told us. “We’re not going to make any progress at all” if leaders choose to rush talks about specific bands.