Groups Urge NDAA Conferees to Reject Military Veto of Lower 3, 7/8 GHz Bands' Reallocation
Deborah Collier, vice president of policy and government affairs for Citizens Against Government Waste, urged House lawmakers involved in reaching a conference compromise on the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-3838) to strongly oppose language in the Senate's alternative bill (S-2296) that gives Pentagon leaders authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands (see 2510090048). HR-3838 doesn’t include similar language. The Senate voted 77-20 earlier this month to pass S-2296 with the Section 1564 military spectrum veto language intact, despite opposition from Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas (see 2510070037).
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“House conferees must disagree with the Senate amendment and force conferees to strike Section 1564 from the conference report on the NDAA,” Collier said Thursday in a blog post. “Otherwise, the Pentagon will be given the absolute authority to veto the sale or shared use of DOD-controlled spectrum, jeopardizing the ability of the U.S. to remain the global leader in telecommunications and stymie[ing] the FCC’s ability to auction more spectrum for wireless communications.”
Allowing Section 1564 to make it into a final NDAA could undermine Congress’ mandate in the reconciliation law to reallocate 800 MHz of spectrum for FCC auction, given that “the majority of spectrum that is unallocated for private use is held by the federal government, particularly” DOD, Collier said. “Finding the necessary 800 MHz of federal spectrum to be auctioned will be difficult at best without the swift cooperation of agencies to give up or share their spectrum, and any obstacles to that objective should be eliminated.”
The Free State Foundation agreed with Collier and noted that NDAA conferees should also strike Section 1564 because it “would preclude the president from exercising ultimate control of the Executive Branch,” which violates the constitutional separation of powers.