Senate Democrats Eye BEAD Reconciliation Amendments as Vote-a-Rama Begins
The Senate was still slogging through a vote-a-rama Monday afternoon of mostly Democratic amendments -- including a proposal for an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline (see 2506060029) -- to the chamber’s revised reconciliation package, which will supersede the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). Senate Republicans appeared closer to retaining a modified proposal for a voluntary freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules after Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas struck a deal with Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a leading GOP critic of the plan, to shorten the pause’s timeline. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats continued insisting the AI proposal threatened states’ eligibility for funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program.
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Blackburn said Sunday night that she had reached a deal with Cruz that would require jurisdictions seeking a cut of a proposed $500 million in AI-related BEAD funding to freeze enforcement of their laws for only five years instead of 10. The revised proposal also includes carve-outs to allow states to continue to enforce AI rules that “protect kids, creators, and other vulnerable individuals from the unintended consequences of” the technology, Blackburn said in a statement. The office of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., didn’t comment on whether he would continue with plans to try to strip out the AI language (see 2506230043).
Cantwell insisted again that the revised AI language still affects BEAD funding, even though Cruz’s office has repeatedly said he has turned away from his original proposal, which required governments receiving funding from the broadband initiative to pause enforcing state-level AI rules (see 2506110052). Cantwell warned Monday that “when [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick has the authority to force states to take [the AI] deal or lose all of their BEAD funding, consumers will find out just how catastrophic this deal is.” She argued on the Senate floor Sunday night that “proponents of this moratorium propose to get started [by] holding broadband money hostage unless you implement” the freeze.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., filed amendments seeking to safeguard BEAD funding. Lujan sought a motion to commit the measure to Senate Commerce with instructions to make changes that “would ensure that [BEAD] funding is used to connect every home, business, library, and school to high-speed, reliable, and affordable broadband before that funding can be used for artificial intelligence infrastructure.” Rochester’s amendment would strike out all reconciliation language that would “undermine access to affordable, high-speed internet, including cuts to” BEAD.
The revised reconciliation package slightly modified some of Senate Commerce Republicans’ compromise spectrum language in response to a ruling from Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. Senate Budget Committee Democrats said the parliamentarian “advised that several sub-provisions are impermissible” under chamber rules for reconciliation measures not to be subject to the usual 60-vote cloture threshold. The ruling required a rewrite of “language on: how spectrum is selected or auctioned; duplicative savings clauses; and seeking input from other agencies on their spectrum uses.” Senate Republicans in part modified language exempting the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands from potential reallocation to bar them “for purposes of auction, reallocation, modification, or withdrawal.”