Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., suspects his trio of wireless...

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., suspects his trio of wireless proposals will be on hold for the short term, as November midterm elections approach. He introduced two bills this year dealing with such issues -- one on reallocation of spectrum (S-2473) and one on spectrum sharing in the upper 5 GHz band (S-2505). He has indicated interest in introducing a third bill that would kill infrastructure barriers for carriers, whether at the level of state and local regulation or federal agency delays. He alluded to new leadership of the Commerce Committee depending on the outcome of the November midterm elections, widely expected to be either Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., or current ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. “My hope is realistically, it’s probably going to have to be something we tackle in the new Congress, in the new Commerce Committee, with either Sen. Nelson or Thune as the chair,” Rubio told us at the Capitol Thursday. “I've been working with them, trying to talk to them a little bit, getting them excited about it.” The Wireless Innovation Act (S-2473) has no co-sponsors, and the Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-2505) has one co-sponsor: Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. “I'm still looking for a Democratic partner to work with me for all the pieces I've got,” Rubio said.