Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., probed White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director nominee Michael Kratsios’ views on repurposing midband spectrum during his Tuesday confirmation hearing. The tone of the lawmakers' questions reflected their disagreement about whether a spectrum title in a budget reconciliation package should involve reallocating parts of the DOD-controlled 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2502190068). Both cited Kratsios’ role as U.S. chief technology officer during the first Trump administration because it made him part of the White House and DOD's joint America’s Mid-Band Initiative Team. AMBIT worked in 2020 to allow sharing in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2010130033).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told us Monday night that he is unlikely to bring up for floor action this week a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. “We're doing” two other non-telecom CRA measures this week, led by Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and John Kennedy, R-La., Thune said.
Rules for protecting GPS from mobile satellite service (MSS) operations in the L band work and don’t need to be revisited, according to satellite and direct-to-device (D2D) interests. But the GPS world is alarmed about the proliferation of D2D hardware in the band and what that could mean for adjacent-band GPS operations, according to comments posted Friday on Regulations.gov as NTIA solicited input on potential interference to the GPS L1 signal from L-band operations at 1610-1660.5 MHz (see 2412260003).
Telecom and utility companies must engage in early communication and collaboration to ensure efficient and safe broadband deployment, industry leaders said Monday at NARUC's Winter Policy Summit. NARUC Telecom Committee members also voted unanimously to adopt two resolutions on utility demand response communication and on vandalism or theft of communications infrastructure.
An FCC advisory opinion on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would be “a fool's errand” and should be “DOA,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said Sunday in a thread on X responding to a New York Post report that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is planning to act on 230 soon. “The FCC should not be in the business of controlling online speech,” Gomez said. “Congress and the courts must quickly step in to stop this unlawful power grab.”
Public broadcasting is facing the “most significant” funding challenge it has seen in 30 years, America's Public Television Stations President Kate Riley said Monday at the APTS 2025 Public Media Summit in Washington. Congressional efforts to defund public media are “predictable threats” but grant-freezing executive orders and the FCC's investigation of NPR and PBS stations are “unpredictable threats,” Riley told the “fly-in” gathering of PBS station managers.
FCC staff on Saturday received the same email that most federal employees did from the Office of Personnel Management, asking them to justify their work, but it was unclear Monday how or if FCC staff would respond. The FCC didn’t comment Monday. The leaders of unions that represent federal employees slammed the email. President Donald Trump said Monday he supports the effort.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous but narrow opinion Friday that reimbursement requests submitted to the E-rate program, administered by the Universal Service Administrative Co., can be considered “claims” under the False Claims Act (FCA). The decision in Wisconsin Bell v. U.S. reaffirmed the ruling of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Elena Kagan, one of three justices appointed by a Democratic president, wrote the opinion.
The outlook is uncertain about whether President Donald Trump will attempt to fire Democratic members of the FCC, as the administration asserts its authority over “so-called independent” agencies (see 2502190073). It’s unclear whether the FCC and its Democratic members, Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, are in Trump’s sights, but no one is taking anything for granted from the current administration, industry experts said. Gomez is emerging as the more outspoken critic of the regime under Chairman Brendan Carr, especially on media items (see 2502200023).
American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling urged Capitol Hill on Thursday not to abandon hopes of mandating reallocation of some federal agencies’ spectrum as part of a budget reconciliation package. His argument came as DOD backers' lingering objections to reapportioning any military-controlled bands still threaten to derail that push (see 2502180058). Meanwhile, Spectrum for the Future pushed back Wednesday night against what it called “misleading claims” during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing (see 2502190068) that an FCC auction of DOD-controlled midband frequencies could generate $100 billion in revenue.