House Commerce GOP Bows Reconciliation Spectrum Text; Cruz Position Eyed
House Commerce Committee Republicans found some success Monday in selling their Sunday night budget reconciliation proposal -- which would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through FY 2034 and tee up 600 MHz of bandwidth -- as effectively balancing the interests of major communications sector and military stakeholders. But lobbyists cautioned that the measure still faces an uncertain path unless House GOP leaders can win support from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others in the upper chamber. House Commerce set a Tuesday reconciliation markup session, which will begin at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
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The House Commerce measure’s proposal for a 600 MHz pipeline is more than the 450 MHz figure that some communications industry lobbyists believed last week was becoming lawmakers’ consensus (see 2505090062). It calls for the FCC to auction at least 200 MHz of spectrum within three years of enactment and the rest within six years. The proposal mandates selling all 600 MHz on an “exclusive, licensed basis” for mobile and fixed broadband services.
However, the proposal meets lobbyists’ expectations that the measure would leave final decisions about which bands the 600 MHz would come from to the executive branch while specifically excluding the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, which DOD supporters have adamantly opposed repurposing in recent years (see 2501070069). The proposal also excludes the 5.9-7.1 GHz band from eligibility for reallocation. Lobbyists said that was a concession to the cable industry, which wants to maintain that frequency for unlicensed Wi-Fi.
House Commerce’s 600 MHz proposal mirrors what FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and new CTIA CEO Ajit Pai emphasized last week as their reconciliation goal (see 2505060036). Pai strongly endorsed the House Commerce proposal Monday, saying its “concrete pipeline, paired with clear deadlines, is critical to meeting consumer demand for mobile connectivity, promoting U.S. economic competitiveness, and protecting national security.” Americans for Tax Reform’s Digital Liberty and the Wireless Infrastructure Association also praised the spectrum language.
House Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Sunday that the legislation’s spectrum proposal would provide $88 billion to offset plans “to renew [President Donald Trump’s 2017] tax cuts and keep Republicans’ promise to hardworking middle-class families.” House Commerce GOP staff who briefed reporters Monday said that figure, from the Congressional Budget Office, represents the value of the entire spectrum section.
Critics Push Back
House Commerce GOP staff indicated to reporters that they had conversations with Senate offices during negotiations that led to the reconciliation proposal, but they emphasized that their focus was on coordinating with other leaders in the lower chamber. Several lobbyists told us they are unsure whether Cruz will support House Commerce’s spectrum approach, given that its 600 MHz pipeline doesn’t mandate sales of specific bands and the total bandwidth is well below the 2,500 MHz that he called for NTIA to identify in the 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act, which he has repeatedly touted this year as his preferred basis for an airwaves title (see 2502190068). Cruz’s office didn’t immediately comment.
A House Commerce GOP aide wouldn’t say Monday whether House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Alabama and other Republicans supported the spectrum proposal. Rogers’ office didn’t immediately comment. House Commerce staff said they also talked with DOD and participated in a series of briefings with military officials about spectrum. Several lobbyists said the lower 3 GHz carve-out may assuage military officials who have been adamant about not reallocating that band, but the lack of guarantees about the 7 GHz and 8 GHz frequencies may prove to be an obstacle.
Senior Democrats on the House and Senate Commerce committees struck back Monday against the House spectrum plan. A GOP-led reconciliation measure can still pass both chambers without Democratic support because such legislation isn’t subject to the Senate’s normal 60-vote cloture threshold. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said “Republicans would rather funnel more tax breaks to billionaires” than use spectrum auction revenue to pay for next-generation 911 tech upgrades or broadband affordability programs.
Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to opine on whether “spectrum auction proposals [DOD] and some in Congress are now advancing” would affect U.S. aviation safety. Cantwell in part blasted DOD’s suggestion as part of a late March spectrum proposal (see 2504040068) to sell the 3.98-4.2 GHz upper C band. That would interfere with “aircraft and helicopter radio altimeters [that] operate in the 4200-4400 MHz band” and risk “a repetition of the 2021 5G C-Band rollout” (see 2201040070), she said in a letter to Duffy.
Michael Calabrese, director of New America’s Wireless Future Program, told us he's “somewhat relieved [House Commerce] is not trying to mandate specific bands for auction and is instead setting a target for an overall amount to be made available.” But the proposal remains “a break from the past” because it allocates spectrum only for licensed use instead of balancing it with unlicensed and shared use, he said. Reallocating all 600 MHz “for exclusive use seems to be [excessive because it’s] very clear that the mobile industry already has too much spectrum.”