CBRS Advocates Urge Reconsideration of Reconciliation Carve-Outs; House Action Stalls
House action on the Senate-cleared version of the HR-1 budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, appeared in doubt Wednesday afternoon amid resistance from several GOP lawmakers. Critics of Senate Commerce Committee Republicans’ HR-1 spectrum language held out hope amid the ruckus that lawmakers would make additional bands ineligible for potential reallocation. The Senate narrowly passed its HR-1 language Tuesday (see 2507010070).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
The House remained stalled at our deadline, more than two hours into the second of three procedural votes to begin debate on the revised HR-1, which seeks an 800 MHz spectrum pipeline. Rep. Jay Obernolte of California, one of the GOP holdouts, told reporters that the Senate's decision to jettison a 10-year moratorium on states' enforcement of their AI laws from HR-1 is among their concerns about the revised measure.
Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., unsuccessfully sought floor votes Tuesday night on a pair of spectrum-related amendments, similar to those that Commerce Committee Democrats proposed in May during debate on advancing the panel's portion of the original version of HR-1 (see 2505140062). The House Rules Committee voted 7-6 not to allow amendments to reach the floor, but the chamber's stall on passing the panel's debate rules meant changes were still theoretically possible.
One of Matsui's amendments would bar spectrum proceeds from benefiting “any entities where the President, government officials, special government employees, or family members of the President, government officials or special government employees maintain an ownership interest (directly or indirectly).” It would also prohibit the FCC from conducting spectrum auctions if the commission is pursuing “investigations or enforcement action against entities engaged in legal disputes with the President, government officials, special government employees or family members of the President, government officials or special government employees for the purpose of attempting to influence the outcome of such disputes.”
Matsui's other amendment would delay HR-1's spectrum language from taking effect until Cabinet-level secretaries and other executive branch appointees “have received cybersecurity training, [including] on the operation of commercial messaging applications, such as Signal and TeleMessage, for official use.”
Exemption Requests
WISPA, Public Knowledge and Spectrum for the Future criticized the Senate-passed HR-1 version for not including carve-outs for the 3.55-3.7 GHz citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and 5.9-7.1 (6) GHz bands. The House's earlier HR-1 text included a 6 GHz exemption. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., unsuccessfully sought an amendment to exempt the CBRS and 6 GHz bands.
“Both bands are heavily used by small ISPs to bring service and bridge digital divides in rural America,” WISPA said. “The critical federal operations that motivated Congress to protect operations in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and 7.1-8.4 GHz spectrum bands also exist in the CBRS band. ... And the current sharing scheme in the 6 GHz band protects important public safety and other licensed operations, while allowing 850 megahertz of unlicensed spectrum to connect more Americans to 100/20 Mbps service in rural areas.”
Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said there's “a small chance that, if the House reopens the bill for other reasons, they might also restore the original House language protecting the 6 GHz band from the spectrum auction block.”
“AT&T and the rest of the wireless industry look like they will get to gobble up half of the 6 GHz band” if HR-1 passes, Feld said. “If this happens, we will end up with Wi-Fi unable to keep up with your home connection, and ultimately slowing to a crawl (as it did when we only had the original Wi-Fi bands available).” The Senate's HR-1 “would only require the FCC to auction off 200 MHz” of nonfederal spectrum, but “CTIA has made it abundantly clear that it wants much more than the 200 MHz required by the” measure, he said.
A Spectrum for the Future spokesperson said an “America-first spectrum strategy must preserve competition from lower-cost wireless providers and support job creation while protecting national security. As the work now shifts to the FCC and NTIA, we urge the Trump administration to ensure that CBRS remains a vital enabling resource for rural families, smart factories, and private investment in 5G networks in all 50 states.”