Warner Seeks a 'Way in Between' Cantwell, Cruz Spectrum Bills
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said during a Thursday Punchbowl News event he would prefer the chamber pursue a middle-ground between the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) and 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909) as a legislative package for renewing the FCC’s lapsed airwaves auction authority. He also voiced concerns about the Biden administration’s implementation of $65 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, echoing criticisms congressional Republicans raised about how long it has taken for funded projects to come online.
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“There should be a way in between” the divergent S-3909 and S-4207 approaches that the Senate can translate into a consensus bill, Warner said. S-4207 would direct further study of several spectrum bands, in keeping with the Biden administration’s national spectrum strategy, and doesn’t obligate reallocation of frequencies. S-3909 would require NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum the federal government can reallocate for nonfederal or shared use within the next five years. Capitol Hill’s talks about spectrum legislation have repeatedly stalled over the course of this Congress, with Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., repeatedly postponing a markup of her S-4207 (see 2409170066). Panel ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, appears likely to prioritize his S-3909 if he becomes chairman next year (see 2410290039).
Warner said it “feels like both sides are kind of set in place” in the spectrum talks that will make it difficult to reach a deal in time to attach it to an end-of-year legislative package, but “never underestimate the ability of magic to happen” in Congress as Christmas gets closer. “We need to get this done” to ensure the U.S. can be a global leader on 5G and open radio access networks because “none of that is going to take place unless we’ve got a path for more spectrum auctions,” Warner said. He backs S-4207’s proposal to use some future spectrum auction revenue to “replenish” funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, something Cruz actively opposes
Congress will need to “push things that … those of us on the government side are reluctant to do” regarding reallocating some federal-controlled spectrum bands, including via frequency sharing, Warner said. The FCC’s spectrum auction authority lapsed in March 2023 amid a Senate-side impasse about whether temporarily renewing the mandate would give the Biden administration leeway to reallocate portions of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band over the objections of military incumbents (see 2303090074). “We don't want to undermine our national security,” but DOD and the intelligence community can’t continue to stand pat with its approach that “we're not even going to consider shared use, or potentially moving off some of that spectrum and migrating to others,” Warner said.
CTIA President Meredith Baker said “we really need Congress to act” on the lower 3 GHz, 7 GHz and 8 GHz bands, all of which have DOD implications. “We're moving forward in 5G, but there's only so much you can do when you don't have the right spectrum,” she said: “DOD has 600% more spectrum than the wireless industry does. So, there is a disparity there that needs to even itself out, and we need to come up with a compromise. We've been working really hard with anybody that will talk to us” so CTIA can explain why “it's pretty obvious what needs to happen.”
Warner said there's “enough money in the pipeline” via IIJA and COVID-19 aid measures that “if we don't get 97-98% of all Americans with high-speed, affordable broadband within the next couple years, it will be failure of execution.” Republicans have been particularly critical of NTIA's implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program and in recent months have blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for its shortcomings (see 2408130061). “We didn't probably think enough” during work on IIJA about “how we get [government broadband project] approvals done quicker,” Warner said: “My fear is that we can see some of those dollars start to run out.”