Latta, Guthrie See Spectrum as Major Priority if Either Becomes House Commerce GOP Lead

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie (Ky.) are highlighting reaching a deal on an expansive spectrum legislative package as a top communications policy priority if they succeed retiring Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) as the panel's lead Republican in the next Congress. Both contenders separately told us their spectrum focus wouldn’t waver if Rodgers and other congressional leaders reach a deal this year that restores the FCC’s lapsed auction authority and other airwaves-related priorities. Talks on spectrum legislation have largely stalled since early 2023, but Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are shopping new proposals (see 2403210063).

A spectrum package is among the items on House Commerce’s agenda that may not “get resolved” before the next Congress convenes in January 2025, Latta said in an interview. He believes such a bill should be a top priority for whoever succeeds Rodgers as the panel’s lead Republican if there’s no consensus by year’s end. Rodgers, Latta and others unsuccessfully pushed during 2023 for action from both chambers on the House Commerce-cleared Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565). The stalled bill proposes using proceeds of future airwaves sales to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program and other telecom projects (see 2312280044).

Cantwell told us she’s still “talking to people” following the end of Congress’ two-week recess earlier this week about how to move forward on her new spectrum proposal, which would restore the FCC’s sales authority for five years but wouldn’t mandate that the commission sell licenses for specific bands. The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the proposal (see 2403140066) valued a clean five-year restoration of the FCC’s mandate at $12 billion-$15 billion, which would let Congress fund some telecom projects, lobbyists said. Cantwell’s plan contrasts with Senate Commerce GOP leaders’ 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909), which would require NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum the federal government can reallocate for nonfederal or shared use within the next five years (see 2403110066).

“We’re trying to pinpoint” the path forward after Senate Commerce’s late March spectrum policy hearing, Cantwell told us. That panel showed “why you have to keep moving and that while dynamic spectrum sharing has ... potential, there are some things that you could do in the near” term. “We heard from people on both sides of the aisle that they would like to do that,” she said. Cantwell acknowledged fellow Senate Commerce Democrats raised spectrum issues during a Monday night meeting focused on the draft American Privacy Rights Act she recently unveiled with Rodgers (see 2404080062). “We didn’t get way deep” into the subject, Cantwell said: Committee Democrats indicated “they would like to do” spectrum legislation in a way that allows them to “get some money for rip and replace and” the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program (see 2403280001).

Cantwell cautioned it's unlikely those discussions will allow her to file legislation before the end of April, but “it’s time to make some decisions.” She plans on speaking with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., about his Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act (S-4049), which would appropriate the $3.08 billion needed to fully fund the FCC’s rip-and-replace program and offset it by authorizing a reauction of the 197 AWS-3 licenses that Dish and affiliated designated entities returned to the commission last year (see 2403220056). His proposal is “one of the ideas that would use things already in” the FCC’s “queue” that could happen while discussions continue about dynamic sharing, Cantwell said.

'United' on Policy

“I pray that we can get a spectrum bill done” before the end of this Congress “because we can’t go two years” with the FCC lacking its auction authority, which lapsed in March 2023 (see 2303090074), Latta told us. “But when you look at the calendar right now, we’re more than halfway through this Congress” and lawmakers haven’t been able to reach a deal that would restore the FCC’s authority or tackle other spectrum-related issues. “We’ve got a lot of work to get done” for a deal to happen in the coming months and Congress will be out on long recesses in August and October, he said.

“When I first got” into the House during the Obama administration, “we really thought we would get some federal agencies to give up” some of their spectrum and allow sufficient bandwidth for wireless connectivity, said Guthrie, Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-chair and a past House Communications member. “We never could come up with how you get federal agencies to move” on that. “It does take someone in the executive branch to say, ‘We’re going to make this happen,’” he told us. “We want to push that from our side, to make sure we have access” as 5G usage expands and “the next generation” after that begins “moving forward. We want to be prepared for that.”

House Commerce Republicans under either Guthrie or Latta will likely remain “united” on a spectrum policymaking approach that pits them against DOD on reallocating some government-used spectrum for commercial purposes, said James Erwin, executive director of Americans for Tax Reform’s Digital Liberty. “There don’t appear to be any” House Commerce members, particularly Republicans, “who are going to take DOD’s side” in the way that dual Senate Commerce and Armed Services Committee member Deb Fischer, R-Neb., did in recent years (see 2404040032). “I don’t think there will be any daylight” between Guthrie and Latta about “what needs to be done” on spectrum, though “it is possible there will be little preferences here and there for one industry over another,” Erwin said.

Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer believes Guthrie could be more of a “firebrand” on spectrum and other telecom issues. Thayer believes a shift in Republicans' tactics may be more likely if Democrats win back a House majority in the November elections. House Commerce Republicans under Rodgers decided to emphasize bipartisan consensus in HR-3565 and “catered to Cantwell” by proposing that up to $5 billion in future spectrum revenue go to middle-mile projects previously included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2306120058), Thayer told us. “I don’t think Guthrie would do that.” Guthrie might instead pass a spectrum bill that hews closer to Republicans’ policy preferences and hope to “get a couple of Democrats on board,” Thayer said.