House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us in recent days that negotiations on potential compromise spectrum legislative language for a budget reconciliation package remain in flux. They emphasized it's still uncertain there will be a deal to obligate an airwaves pipeline as part of the measure. Their comments contrasted with the optimism that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., voiced in recent interviews about the prospects of a spectrum deal that would satisfy pro-DOD legislators, who have resisted reallocating military-controlled midband airwaves.
The FCC sought comment Friday on eliminating 2,057 docketed proceedings as dormant. A sampling studied by Communications Daily found many smaller, limited dockets, often in which few, if any, filings had been made. The FCC said it closed almost 100 other dockets “administratively” in advance of the release. The notice from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) isn’t tied to the ongoing “Delete” proceeding, the agency said. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.
A proposal from FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to fight “fake news” by capping fees that broadcast affiliates pay networks could include provisions protecting Fox, broadcast and FCC officials told us. Simington described the idea in a Thursday op-ed, co-written with Gavin Wax, his new chief of staff, and published in The National Pulse. President Donald Trump reposted the proposal Friday morning on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump's executive order late Thursday instructing CPB to cease funding NPR and PBS may not have an immediate effect on stations and will likely be challenged as part of CPB’s existing lawsuit, which disputes executive branch jurisdiction over the private corporation (see 2504290067), attorneys told us. Trump followed up on the order Friday, again proposing eliminating federal CPB funding as part of his FY 2026 discretionary budget request. Meanwhile, some pro-CPB congressional appropriators are warily eyeing Trump’s pending request that Capitol Hill claw back $1.1 billion in advance funding for the entity (see 2504150052).
The federal government wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to block a lower court injunction staying a White House executive order ending collective bargaining arrangements for employees at numerous agencies, including the FCC, IRS and Food and Drug Administration. The order removed collective bargaining rights at roughly 40 agencies on national security grounds, affecting two-thirds of the federal workforce. The injunction was issued last week after a legal challenge brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents workers at the FCC. NTEU has said the order is an existential threat to the union (see 2504040037).
CTIA’s proposal that the FCC launch a rulemaking to update its rules implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is facing huge backlash from states and tribal groups (see 2503270059). CTIA also asked the commission to tackle restrictions under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The petition received support from industry. Comments were due Wednesday in RM-12003.
The FCC released the drafts of the three items set for a vote during the commission’s May 22 meeting, including the “bad labs” order and Further NPRM, which downplays some concerns raised by industry last year (see 2409050017). Also on the agenda are foreign-ownership rules and an NPRM looking at satellite broadband (see 2504300049).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats used a Thursday confirmation hearing for deputy commerce secretary nominee Paul Dabbar to restate their concerns about the Trump administration’s commitment to the Commerce Department doling out appropriated broadband and semiconductor funding. Cantwell and Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also emphasized their diverging views on repurposing DOD airwaves for commercial 5G use, an issue that’s been a major sticking point in negotiations to include a spectrum title in a coming GOP-sought budget reconciliation package (see 2504180027).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
CTIA expressed support for a possible auction of upper C-band spectrum, though broadcasters, aviation companies and some commenters were more skeptical, warning of harmful interference with other operations, among comments that were due Tuesday on the upper C-band notice of inquiry, which the FCC approved in February (see 2502280032). It explores the 3.98-4.2 GHz band's future.