Rubio Promises To Reallocate Spectrum if Elected President

Rubio pressed for overhaul of spectrum policy, goals in line with legislation he recently introduced alongside several other Commerce Committee Republicans (see 1506180045). The lack of available spectrum is creating problems, Rubio said Tuesday: “The result is a digital traffic jam. As president, I will reallocate spectrum for public use, which could create an estimated 350,000 jobs per 500 MHz.” CTIA has cited this figure, which comes from a May 2012 report by Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics, authored on behalf of CTIA. The Senate Commerce Committee may hold a hearing on the reallocation of government spectrum and spectrum efficiency later this month. Rubio mentioned his goal to “advance a comprehensive wireless plan to expand unlicensed spectrum,” a reference to his other wireless bill focused on possible spectrum sharing in the upper 5 GHz. CTIA has championed Rubio’s wireless efforts.

“In its short life, the Internet has become one of humanity’s greatest treasures,” Rubio said, saying the Internet should be in the hands of the people and not the government. He touted his efforts to safeguard “Internet freedom and digital opportunity,” and said he “led a coalition opposing efforts to cede Internet regulatory power to the International Telecommunications Union.”

Rubio didn’t explicitly mention net neutrality but has opposed the FCC’s actions and occasionally mentioned such opposition. Rubio’s issues page on his campaign website includes one section labeled “The Internet.” It showcases a graphic that says, “The Internet belongs to you. Not government.” The text of the section is the same as the op-ed Rubio published in Politico earlier this year blasting the FCC’s net neutrality order.

Rubio worries that different agency chief information officers are “out of step” with best practices on cybersecurity, he said in response to a question after his speech. What may help is “some unitary standard,” he said, also pressing for passage of cybersecurity legislation to give the private sector “confidence’ to collaborate with the government on dealing with data breaches, given how “interwoven” the challenges are. The threat “ is evolving as quickly as the solutions are,” he said. “You need to have more collaboration.”

“When I’m president, I will empower innovators rather than punish them,” Rubio added, saying he would change the corporate tax code. “We have a tax code that punishes American companies.” Apple has billions of dollars overseas but keeps the money there, he said: “Because Apple would be punished for bringing it back, they choose not to.” He wants a “ceiling” on how much U.S. regulations can cost the economy and also “to ensure the rise of the machines will not be the fall of the worker.” He said cars will be able to drive themselves and “our devices will grow more powerful,” with new capabilities for consumers. “Virtual reality, nanotechnology, robotics,” Rubio said, rattling off areas of change. “I say we have lingered long enough on the future’s edge.”

Recent polling shows Rubio struggling to maintain GOP favor. In CNN and Opinion Research Council International polling done in late June, Rubio had the backing of 6 percent of Republicans, with a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. He had support from 14 percent in the same poll a month earlier, the poll report showed. The GOP frontrunner of that poll in the past several months has been Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor. A Reuters/Ipsos poll also surveyed Republicans and independents in late June, with 4 percent of those Republicans and independents saying they would vote for Rubio in a primary today. Bush led in that poll, too. Real estate developer Donald Trump polled second in both polls. Rubio did better in both cases than Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, his colleague on the Commerce Committee who also has vocally opposed the FCC’s net neutrality order.