Senate Commerce Likely Will Pivot to Spectrum Pipeline Act in Cruz Chairmanship

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America’s Open Technology Institute, is quoted in a Communications Daily article about how the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s approach to spectrum legislation may shift if the Republican Party takes control of the U.S. Senate, which would lead the Committee’s current ranking member, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to become its chairman.

Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 U.S. elections, Calabrese notes that he expects the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to pursue alternatives to Cruz’s Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024—and, moreover, that the U.S. Department of Defense will remain in a good position to oppose the reallocation of its spectrum for commercial 5G use (a possibility the current version of Cruz’s bill doesn’t rule out).

Michael Calabrese, New America Open Technology Institute's Wireless Future Project director, expects House Commerce to continue pursuing a more “realistic approach” to spectrum legislation in the next Congress regardless of whether Cruz wields the Senate Commerce gavel. S-3909 as filed represents Cruz’s “fantasy bill” and any spectrum legislative deal during the next Congress will likely “look nothing like” that measure, Calabrese told us.

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DOD “is probably in a stronger position” to oppose reallocating its spectrum for commercial 5G use now that “there are multiple military conflicts” abroad, regardless of whether Vice President Kamala Harris (D) or former President Donald Trump (R) win on Nov. 5, Calabrese said. House and Senate Armed Services Republicans “may resist disrupting defense operations” on those bands even if Trump backed such a move.