Hispanic Business Group Opposes NDAA Veto of Military Spectrum Reallocation
The U.S. Hispanic Business Council raised concerns Friday about Section 1564 of the Senate-passed FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296), which allows DOD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands (see 2510090048). 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). The House-passed FY26 NDAA (HR-3838) doesn’t include similar language.
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Hispanic Business Council CEO Javier Palomarez said S-2296’s Section 1564 “would upend [the] right balance” that Congress achieved in the reconciliation law, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, between enacting an 800 MHz airwaves auction pipeline and securing “national security carve-outs” for the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands. Section 1564 would insert “new, redundant military veto over auctions, injecting uncertainty where we need clarity, and slowing the next wave of 5G and 6G deployment that our small firms need to reach consumers, hire workers, and grow their enterprises,” Palomarez said. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and other Section 1564 champions “are asking for a second bite at the apple on spectrum bands that were already addressed in the [reconciliation law]. That is bad policy, and bad faith. Small businesses cannot plan investments around shifting goalposts or new gatekeepers.”