The House and Senate Armed Services committees released a compromise version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5009) Saturday night with language allocating $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, as expected. The measure also provides up to $500 million through 2033 to the Commerce Department for regional tech hubs. The language in HR-5009, originating from the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act (S-4207), would give the FCC $3.08 billion in Treasury Department borrowing authority for rip and replace reimbursements.

Some congressional backers of the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program are beginning to see momentum turn toward including an additional $3.08 billion that will fully fund the initiative in an end-of-year legislative package (see 2411190064), but they aren’t guaranteeing success yet. Lawmakers and other rip-and-replace boosters hope congressional scrutiny of the Salt Typhoon Chinese government-affiliated effort at hacking U.S. telecom networks (see 2411190073) could be a tipping point for securing the funding after multiple spectrum legislative proposals, meant to pay for the program, stalled in recent years.

Communications industry executives and former federal officials said during a Practising Law Institute event Tuesday they see a likely GOP-led budget reconciliation package next year as a potential vehicle for legislation that would reinstate the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority. House Commerce Committee leaders and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., have repeatedly attempted to reinstate the authority during this Congress only to have their efforts stall (see 2409170066).

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week again called for Congress to appropriate an additional $3.08 billion to fully fund the commission’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Lawmakers are eyeing a range of legislative vehicles for allocating the additional rip-and-replace money during Congress’ lame-duck session, but some leaders are skeptical a deal is possible (see 2411190064). Thirty program participants certified with the FCC by Nov. 20 “that the removal, replacement, and disposal work … has been completed,” but “many have additional invoices to submit should Congress appropriate additional funding,” Rosenworcel said in letters to the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees and Appropriations Financial Services subcommittees released Monday. The commission has been prorating payments to program participants absent additional appropriations (see 2305040085). As of Nov. 20, the FCC “granted 139 extensions” for participants to complete the rip-and-replace work beyond statutory deadlines, “including 118 based in whole or in part on the funding shortfall,” Rosenworcel told lawmakers. “Some participants … have informed the Commission that they fear that they may need to shut down portions of their networks and withdraw from this process without completing the removal of insecure equipment” if Congress doesn’t allocate the rest of the money. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan, a vocal backer of the program, said in a statement the “lack of necessary funding, as detailed in [Rosenworcel’s] letter, is alarming and far-reaching.” Some participants “have already shut down portions of their networks” and the lack of full funding “poses grave risks to U.S. national security, as insecure foreign-made communications equipment remains operational.”

Tapped to lead the FCC during the second Trump administration (see 2411170001), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is expected to be as aggressive as possible on spectrum and wireless siting issues, industry experts said. During President-elect Donald Trump's first administration, then-Chairman Ajit Pai made Carr lead commissioner on wireless siting.

It would be a mistake for the Trump administration to undo President Joe Biden’s efforts at establishing a rights-based regulatory framework for AI technology, Democrats told us in interviews before the break.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, could shift the direction Congress’ USF revamp takes when he becomes the panel’s chairman in January, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Observers believe his impact on what Congress decides will partially depend on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules when it reviews the FCC appeal of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in favor of Consumers' Research's challenge of the USF contribution methodology (see 2411220050). A high court ruling upholding the 5th Circuit could shift momentum in favor of Cruz’s proposal that Congress make USF funding part of the appropriations process, officials said.

A possible shakeup of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) will be top of mind for state telecom regulators in the year ahead, NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram said in an interview earlier this month at the association’s Anaheim meeting. USF is one of several areas of uncertainty in 2025, said three state consumer advocates in a separate interview at the collocated National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) conference.

The next FCC and Trump administration will place a major focus on deregulation of commercial space activities and streamlining the approvals processes, space policy experts tell us. In addition, some expect long-awaited clarity on what agency oversees novel space missions like in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing, or asteroid mining. Moreover, the experts anticipate increased openness about the use of satellite communications in federal programs fighting the digital divide.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, quickly rejected speculation Thursday that he might be in contention to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee soon after ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew as the nominee. “I am staying right where I am,” Cruz told reporters. “I am not going anywhere.” Cruz was Texas’ attorney general before his election to the Senate in 2012 and is likely to take over as Senate Commerce chairman in January when Republicans reclaim a majority in the chamber (see 2411060043). Gaetz, who as a House Judiciary Committee member was involved in the panel’s work on antitrust and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 issues (see 2404120044), withdrew amid some Republican senators’ clear misgivings about confirming him to lead DOJ given he was the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe into sexual misconduct claims.