Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., pressed the Trump administration Friday to immediately release the $42.5 billion Congress allocated to NTIA’s BEAD program. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in March began a “rigorous review” of BEAD aimed at revamping the program (see 2503050067). Meanwhile, National Lifeline Association Chairman David Dorwart marked the one-year anniversary of the formal lapse of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (see 2405310070).

A new report from the Phoenix Center questions whether 5G has been the huge boon for the U.S. economy that the wireless industry claims. The report, released Wednesday, comes as the Trump administration launches a push to make 600 MHz of midband spectrum available for licensed use (see 2505270045). It disputes findings from a January study released by CTIA that each additional 100 MHz of midband spectrum set aside for carrier use will add $260 billion to the national GDP, generate $390 billion in consumer benefits and create 1.5 million jobs (see 2501230041).

As the subject of two FCC probes, EchoStar has received backing from various industry groups and others, but it also faces new questions about how well it's complying with the terms of its 5G network buildout. That's according to docket 25-173 and 22-212 comments, which were due Tuesday in a pair of public notices: one on whether EchoStar is using the 2 GHz band for mobile satellite service (MSS), consistent with its authorizations, and the other seeking further comment on VTel Wireless' recon petition regarding an extension of EchoStar's 5G network buildout deadlines (see 2505130003).

NTIA is “hard at work” identifying 600 MHz of midband spectrum for licensed use, acting Administrator Adam Cassady said at an agency town hall last week. “That is utterly critical to our mission,” he said. Lynna McGrath, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM), said NTIA has set up five working groups to explore the commercial use of three target bands.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., on Thursday night criticized spectrum language included in the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). The House cleared HR-1 Thursday 215-214 with provisions that would restore the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2034, and mandate that the federal government reallocate at least 600 MHz of airwaves for commercial licensed use (see 2505220064). “There is strong bipartisan concern about handing over this spectrum,” Lujan said. “Yet House Republicans are moving ahead at President [Donald] Trump’s directive, prioritizing billionaires over the urgent need to invest in broadband access.”

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is threatening to block Senate passage of its budget reconciliation package if Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others include spectrum legislative language that doesn’t exempt the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7 GHz bands from potential reallocation for commercial use. Rounds’ declaration Wednesday night created another potential roadblock for spectrum legislation to make it into a negotiated reconciliation deal, even as House GOP leaders celebrated the lower chamber's narrow passage Thursday morning of their One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). That measure's spectrum title would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through Sept. 30, 2034, and exempts the lower 3 GHz and 5.9-7.1 (6) GHz bands from reallocation.

A new report by CableLabs warned that Wi-Fi is running out of spectrum given spiraling demand, and it urged policymakers to preserve the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use. The report came as Congress scrambles to identify 600 MHz of spectrum for full-power licensed use (see 2505140062).

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, offered positive but different interpretations of President Donald Trump’s apparent endorsement Tuesday (see 2505200058) of the spectrum language cleared in the lower chamber's One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation package (HR-1). The two leaders were vague about whether Trump’s statement makes it more difficult for Cruz and other senators to press for potential changes to the spectrum proposal (see 2505130059). Meanwhile, the House Rules Committee was still debating Wednesday afternoon plans for bringing HR-1 to the floor.

The FCC Wireless Bureau announced Tuesday that it found a spectrum transaction between Grain Management and T-Mobile to be “acceptable for filing” and started a pleading cycle. The companies said in March that Grain Management would buy all of T-Mobile's 800 MHz spectrum in exchange for cash and Grain's 600 MHz spectrum portfolio (see 2503210033).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is defending cuts to the agency’s workforce and other actions in written testimony ahead of the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee’s planned Wednesday hearing on commission oversight. Carr also urges Congress again to restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, as House GOP leaders aimed to pass, as soon as Wednesday night, their One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation package with spectrum language included. The House Appropriations Financial Services hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2358-A Rayburn.