Trump hails deal between senators on government-owned spectrum
President Trump on Friday hailed Senate Republican committee chairmen for reaching a deal with Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) on auctioning of government-owned spectrum.
Rounds and Fischer had held up Trump's big, beautiful bill because they feared that the federal sale of spectrum to the private sector would deprive the Defense Department of critical bandwidth used for radar.
Trump on Friday applauded GOP senators for working out their differences.
'Congratulations to Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Ted Cruz, Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, Roger Wicker, and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, Tom Cotton, for their amazing deal on Spectrum as posted last night,' Trump posted on Truth Social.
'This is serious power for American Leadership on 6G,' he said, referring to the next phase of broadband infrastructure. 'We will have the World's Greatest Networks, and ensure the Highest Level of National Security for future Generations of Americans.'
A source familiar with the deal said that Rounds and Fischer got what they wanted, namely language in the bill to protect the Pentagon's use of prime spectrum frequencies for the entire length of the government auction period.
The deal preserves the Defense Department's use of the 'lower three' 3.1 to 3.45 GHz band and 7.4 to 8.4 GHz, which would be exempted from general auction authority and the spectrum pipeline.
The wireless industry got the restoration of auction authority.
Trump on Friday slammed Biden for failing to reach a deal on spectrum auctions during his term.
'Biden did nothing on Spectrum in four years but, thanks to 'THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,' my Administration will beat all expectations, and show World the path forward!' he posted.
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