Senate GOP aides said Friday afternoon that chamber leaders aimed to hold an initial vote Saturday on a motion to proceed to the chamber’s combined budget reconciliation package, which includes the Commerce Committee’s revised proposal for an 800 MHz spectrum pipeline and restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through Sept. 30, 2034 (see 2506060029). Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, secured backing last week for the spectrum proposal from a pair of Armed Services Republicans after he strengthened the original proposal’s carve-outs excluding the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands from potential FCC auction or other reallocation (see 2506250054).
If Senate opposition pushes hard enough against the AI moratorium proposed by Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, it could potentially lead to a floor vote on the provision itself, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and a Republican Senate staffer told us Monday.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina led a Wednesday letter with 46 other congressional Democrats, pressing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to reverse NTIA's rewrite of rules for its $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2506060052). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas and other Republicans have praised the BEAD rewrite (see 2506100071), while Democrats argue NTIA's requirement that jurisdictions resubmit their plans for reexamination will further delay the funding rollout. Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., were among others who signed the letter.
Greater use of unlicensed fixed wireless (ULFW) could reduce the number of remaining BEAD-eligible locations by up to 15%, as long as ULFW providers meet technical requirements, according to an analysis Tuesday by New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute. ACLP said NTIA's BEAD restructuring notice, issued earlier this month (see 2506060052), allows ULFW to compete for BEAD grants, while locations served by ULFW are potentially no longer eligible for funding. The resulting reduction in eligible locations varies widely from state to state, the analysis said, with some seeing as much as a 30% decrease and others seeing almost no change. Rural Digital Opportunity Fund defaults, meanwhile, could raise the number of eligible locations by 3%, it added.
States are grappling with the limited amount of time available to restructure their BEAD plans and undergo a new round of grant applications under NTIA's revised rules governing the program (see 2506060052). In light of the years of work that states have already spent to comply with the rules set when the program was created, some broadband officials said they plan to continue with business as usual, while others worry that the shift from fiber priority to tech neutrality, along with narrowed community anchor institution eligibility, will hinder their efforts to bridge the digital divide.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Tuesday that it’s “time to have a real conversation and update the 1992 Cable Act,” a revamp that would likely take aim at retransmission consent, must-carry and network non-duplication rules, lobbyists said. The lawmaker announced plans to revisit the statute during a Media Institute event, saying it was part of a broader “modernization” of U.S. media laws, in tandem with the FCC Media Bureau’s move to seek comment on relaxing national broadcast-ownership limits (see 2506200052).
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Saturday cleared a revised version of Commerce Committee Republicans’ budget reconciliation proposal for a freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules in a way that backers claim doesn't directly threaten funding from NTIA’s $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2506060029). However, Senate Democratic aides told us they believe it would still put all states’ BEAD allocations at risk. The measure is an apparent alternative to language in the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1) that would impose a 10-year federal preemption of such laws (see 2505220064).
Senate Commerce Committee Democrats on Monday circulated updated text proposed by Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for an AI regulation moratorium (see 2506170054). The Senate Parliamentarian on Saturday approved the text under the Byrd rule, officially attaching the proposal to the budget reconciliation package.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., continued Thursday to criticize panel Republicans’ proposed spectrum language for the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506060029). She argued during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the spectrum proposal would leave DOD and aviation stakeholders more vulnerable to China and other malicious actors. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and 30 other chamber Democrats also urged Senate leaders to jettison language from the reconciliation package that would require governments receiving funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program to pause enforcing state-level AI rules.