Latta, Matsui Seek Quick Spectrum Deal Talks in 2023, More Bicameral Cooperation
The revised March 9 expiration date for the FCC’s auction authority included in the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package (HR-2617) is spurring House Communications Subcommittee leaders’ interest in quickly reaching a new deal on a spectrum legislative package when talks reconvene at the start of the 118th Congress. Capitol Hill passed the short-term reauthorization after the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees weren’t able to attach the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (see 2212190069), a package of modified language from the upper chamber's version of the Spectrum Innovation Act (S-4117) and other related measures, to the omnibus. Senate Commerce leaders are divided on whether they will be able to advance the legislative package largely in its current form in the next Congress (see 2212270029).
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House Communications leaders told us they hope renewed talks will involve closer bicameral coordination, in contrast to the Senate Commerce Committee leaders’ push for their own spectrum bill after the lower chamber had already passed a version of the Spectrum Innovation Act (see 2207280052). The House-passed HR-7624 and S-4117 diverged in their approach to modifying the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s framework for deciding how to repurpose spectrum on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., objected to the spectrum deal’s inclusion in the omnibus because its 3.1-3.45 GHz band language compromised too much of DOD’s power to decide next steps on repurposing the frequency (see 2212200077).
The deal’s unraveling means “all of a sudden nothing’s been done” on spectrum language beyond the “short-term” renewals included in the omnibus and two previous continuing resolutions, said House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, who may take over the subpanel gavel in January from retiring Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “We’ve got to get some finality with this” for all spectrum policy stakeholders, “so I’m hoping we can get the legislation drafted and get it out” of the House quickly, Latta said.
There’s House precedent to allow a spectrum package to be “fast-tracked” through the chamber given it already passed HR-7624 in July by a lopsided margin and the subcommittee held a hearing on spectrum legislative issues in March (see 2203160073), Latta told us. “I don’t think we need to spend a lot of time” refreshing the record given those circumstances. He wants there to be more direct “collaboration” with Senate Commerce leaders to ensure that the measure the House sends the upper chamber doesn’t wither and become subject to additional negotiations as HR-7624 did (see 2208090001).
“We’ve got to go back and figure out” how to move forward after the deal’s demise once there’s been a chance for lawmakers to break for the holidays, said House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui of California, who will take over from Doyle as lead subpanel Democrat. “We all want to get this thing over with, but if we take one week when we’re not thinking about anything” related to the talks, a solution might become apparent once the new Congress convenes. “A conversation” with all stakeholders come January “would be good, because I don’t think” that engagement fully occurred during this Congress, she said: That could help resolve the kinds of “hiccups” that slowed and ultimately derailed the process this year.
“Apparently things were moving along too quickly” with the 3.1-3.45 GHz language in this Congress, but “hopefully we can come about” renewed talks in a way that means “we can work things out with the defense community” because “this is not something they should be concerned about,” Matsui told us. “In my experience, DOD doesn’t want to give up anything,” so “it takes time to build the trust” with the defense community to repurpose their holdings, as happened in the lead-up to the AWS-3 auction that closed in 2015. “I’m sure we can work this out,” she said: “We did it before, we can do it again now.”
Bipartisan Responsibility?
National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes continues “to hold out hope” that a new spectrum package will maintain the potential amount of spectrum auction revenue allocated to pay for next-generation 911 upgrades at the up to $14.8 billion figure included in the scuttled deal. Lawmakers proposed allocating up to $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, up to $5 billion for middle-mile projects previously included in IIJA and up to $200 million each for a proposed NTIA Telecommunications Workforce Training Grant Program and an NTIA-led Minority Serving Institutions Program.
The NG-911 funding survived “almost up until the final hours of the Senate’s work,” Fontes told us. “It wasn’t a question about the funding and the need for it, it was a question of” rules for repurposing specific spectrum bands. “I take that as a good sign” and in a majority-GOP House, “one of the things historically” that lawmakers have looked for with proposed new spending “has been a source of revenue,” so “auction revenues” would hopefully pass muster, he said: “It is a concern” that lawmakers proposed in the failed deal to prioritize allocating spectrum proceeds to pay down federal debt before turning to funding NG-911, but “we would be grateful for any sum” from the revenue even if it doesn’t reach the total $14.8 billion.
“I would expect this is something that will be ripe for quick decision-making,” as “this was something they wanted to get cleared up and finished” in December, said Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice. The omnibus’ March 9 deadline “shows just how close” negotiators “were to getting a deal” and “there are much bigger things folks are going to want to work on” outside of telecom policy early in the next Congress. “It certainly felt to me” like “DOD had gotten comfortable with” the compromise 3.1-3.45 GHz language, “as had the leadership at Senate Armed Services,” Guice told us: “To have a member step forward and air a concern that had not previously been mentioned just seems really odd.”
“My hope is they’ll pick up that final draft” language that circulated immediately before the deal died “and try to solve for” Rounds’ concerns “and then get it ready for a vote,” Guice told us. The March 9 authority expiration date will serve as the “must-pass” guidepost for a spectrum package now that a bigger package like an omnibus or the annual National Defense Authorization Act isn’t available as a vehicle. “That’s still a very strong incentive, particularly” now that both parties would “be responsible for the result if the FCC loses” its remit under divided control of Congress, he said: “That can certainly motivate folks.”