Lawmakers Closing in on Deal to Add FCC Reauthorization, Spectrum Language to FY 2018 Omnibus
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said they are moving closer to a deal with House Commerce Committee leaders to attach language on FCC reauthorization and some spectrum issues to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill. No deal was yet reached. The lawmakers have been negotiating over provisions from the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization bill (HR-4986) and the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill (see 1708030060, 1802270055 and 1802280049).
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Language from HR-4986 and S-19 was on table Thursday, Thune told us. “We are pretty close” to a deal with House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., on language from both bills, Thune said. HR-4986, which cleared House Commerce earlier this month, includes language to authorize additional repack funding (see 1802140064). The bill also includes language from the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) that would let the FCC place bidders' deposits in future spectrum auctions in a Treasury Department fund (see 1710250026).
Nelson told reporters Wednesday he was taking the lead for Senate Democrats in negotiating. “We're going through the list right now of what we want to put in there” on telecom policy priorities, he said. “There are things that still have to be ironed out.” He said lawmakers “ironed out” a deal to allow a four-year reauthorization of the FAA in the omnibus “so you don't have to go through this herky-jerky” process “every six months or every year.” Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us he and his staff are also following the negotiations.
Thune told reporters he expected to “know something a little later” Thursday about a deal: “My staff is still trying to wrap up negotiations with the House and coordinate with the appropriators, so I hope to know soon,” but it was hard to be certain when there would be a final resolution. “The appropriators are anxious to put this to bed and in order to get some of these things included, you've got to have House-Senate consensus,” Thune told us earlier Thursday. “We've had some issues we've had to work through with the Department of Defense” on S-19, though “this has always been the case on spectrum issues,” he said.
DOD raised concerns about S-19's language after the Senate originally passed the measure in August. Those concerns led House Commerce staff to scuttle a bid to attach S-19's provisions to HR-4986 ahead of the committee's markup last month.