The Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee Committee is readying for a full markup of budget reconciliation text scheduled for Tuesday afternoon that would go a long way toward bringing spectrum auction authorization back to the FCC.
The markup by the full committee will begin at 2pm on May 13 at 2123 Rayburn HOB and the agenda contains several items, each representing the subjects of Energy, Environment, Communications, and Health.
For the Communications item, spectrum auctions are the key subject, and “identification and auction of spectrum” is what Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) has in mind.
If the legislation were to pass, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the FCC would have up to two years from the act’s enactment to identify at least 600 megahertz (MHz) of commercial or federal spectrum in the covered band to be auctioned by 2034.
It would also require the President, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, to withdraw or modify the assignments to Federal Government stations of spectrum identified, and notify the Commission not later than 30 days after completing any necessary withdrawals or modifications. It includes a rule of construction to ensure that nothing in this section changes the respective authorities of the NTIA or the FCC with respect to spectrum allocated for Federal use, non-Federal use, or shared Federal and non-Federal use.
Specifically, not later than 3 years after the data of enactment, the FCC would also be required to auction at least 200 MHz of the identified spectrum, and not later than 6 years after the date of enactment, auction the remaining spectrum identified.
For broadcasters, this would reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through September 30, 2034 — something many TV station ownership groups have wanted. But, as one RBR+TVBR reader points out, the spectrum being authorized for auction does not include broadcast TV spectrum and, specifically, 500 MHz.
The “covered band” is defined as the band of frequencies between 1.3 GHz and 10 GHz, inclusive, excluding the band of frequencies between 3.1 GHz and 3.45 GHz and the band of frequencies between 5.925 GHz and 7.125 GHz.
Concurrently, the markup of the budget reconciliation text would include a $500 million appropriation to the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 2025, to remain available through September 30, 2035, for the purpose of modernizing and securing federal information technology systems through the deployment of commercial artificial intelligence, automation technologies, and the replacement of antiquated business systems.
Guthrie is looking to Carr to raise a significant amount of money from spectrum auctions. Writing Sunday in the Wall Street Journal, Guthrie said, “This reconciliation legislation will help raise federal revenue and limit government spending to what actually helps Americans. We will raise $88 billion by reauthorizing the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auction authority and provide resources to modernize federal information-technology systems. Both are crucial for maintaining and expanding U.S. technological leadership.”
One Democrat on the House E&C Committee on Monday expressed her displeasure over Guthrie’s plan.
Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) blasted Guthrie’s “hyper-partisan reconciliation bill,” which she says “throws our bipartisan efforts on spectrum auction authority in the trash. Instead of directing spectrum auction funds to fund life-saving grants like Next Generation 911 or to make high-speed internet more affordable for American families, Republicans would rather funnel more tax breaks to billionaires.”
