Trump Administration Eyes Expedited Spectrum Review Amid GOP Reconciliation Talks

The Trump administration is eyeing an expedited review of federal spectrum holdings to identify bands that GOP lawmakers could mandate for reallocation in a coming budget reconciliation package, a former Commerce Department official and communications sector lobbyists told us. Telecom-focused congressional leaders indicated some progress in Capitol Hill negotiations to reach a spectrum reconciliation deal but cautioned that there has been no major breakthrough. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and congressional DOD supporters remain at loggerheads.

NTIA, with Trump administration support, is looking to conduct what some communications lobbyists described as a 10-week study of bands that lawmakers could include in a reconciliation spectrum title, in combination with a restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority. Other lobbyists suggested a multi-month timeline is possible. NTIA’s expedited effort is separate from the studies it and other federal agencies began as part of the Biden administration’s national spectrum strategy, which include a revisit of earlier probes of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. The future of the Biden national spectrum strategy remains in doubt amid uncertainty about Trump administration priorities (see 2503100058).

Lobbyists said an expedited study is likely to include the 4, 7 and 8 GHz bands. They were less certain about whether a review would examine the low 3 GHz band, which DOD and its congressional backers have strongly resisted repurposing for 5G use (see 2501290057). Lobbyists doubted that DOD would back an expedited review of the lower 3 GHz band. Moreover, the lobbyists reported conflicting information about whether Cruz and House Commerce Committee leaders signed off on an expedited review. The White House and Commerce didn’t immediately comment.

Cruz was vague during a brief interview Wednesday, saying that “those discussions are ongoing.” Senate Commerce didn’t comment on a follow-up query. Cruz is pushing for GOP leaders to pattern an airwaves title in a budget reconciliation package on his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act, which would require that NTIA identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum to reallocate within the next five years. He continues to face resistance from Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and other DOD backers (see 2502190068).

Cruz separately pulled the Government Spectrum Valuation Act (S-792) from Senate Commerce’s Wednesday meeting agenda (see 2503060066). That measure would mandate an NTIA-led estimate within one year of all federal entities’ spectrum holdings up to the 33 GHz band. Estimates between 33 GHz and 66 GHz bands would be due within two years, while valuations between 66 GHz and the 95 GHz band would be due within three years.

Cruz pulled S-792 to work out concerns flagged by other panel members over the past few weeks, a Senate Commerce Democratic spokesperson said. Senate Commerce unanimously cleared four other telecom-focused measures Wednesday, along with divided votes to advance White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director nominee Michael Kratsios and FTC nominee Mark Meador (see 2503120069).

'Making Some Headway'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., a 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act co-sponsor, told us earlier this week that there have been “substantive and good conversations about the best way to” move on spectrum via reconciliation. “We're making some headway, but these are complicated issues,” he said: “We’re going to have to continue to work through them.”

Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee member Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who is also a Republican Commerce member, told us after a Tuesday Incompas event (see 2503110058) that he “can't imagine that the administration wouldn't reach a conclusion” on what federally controlled bands it can reallocate in time for Congress to approve it via reconciliation, despite ongoing DOD resistance. “I would expect the defense community to give us an answer in the first half of this year,” he said: “The sale of spectrum is critical to the ability to do reconciliation,” but work to compile that package “is going to take months.”

Senate Armed Services Committee member Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a leading GOP opponent of repurposing the lower 3 GHz band, told us no one from Senate Commerce “at this point” has consulted him on the spectrum negotiations. He said he doubts DOD officials will speak in favor of repurposing bands where military systems operate, given several department nominees’ responses to his questions at recent hearings (see 2502270064).

“I think they've been very clear as to the damage that will be done to our national security” if the federal government agrees to repurpose those bands, Rounds said. He stopped short of saying he would vote against a reconciliation package that mandates repurposing any DOD-controlled bands. It “would be extremely problematic for me” if Cruz decides to move forward on such a proposal in the face of continued DOD opposition, Rounds said.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., remains strongly opposed to using reconciliation as a vehicle for enacting spectrum legislation (see 2501230064) and told us she thinks Republicans are running out of time to make that happen. “We just cannot do it in this way” without negative consequences in the future for spectrum policy, she said: “It’s a valuable piece of property,” and “we don't want to waste it” simply to justify tax cuts.