Trump hails deal between senators on government-owned spectrum
President Trump on Friday hailed Senate Republican committee chairs 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 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 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.
Rounds said Friday he appreciates the new national security protections and would continue to work on legislative language to align the broader bill with the 'intent of the agreement,' signaling some details may still need to be worked out.
'I appreciate the national security protections, and we are working on modifications that will align it with the spirit and intent of the agreement. Negotiations are ongoing and we look forward to reaching a conclusion that will both supercharge 5G as well as protect our national security, including the capabilities necessary to build President Trump's Golden Dome,' Rounds said in a statement.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the Commerce Committee, slammed her Republican colleagues for 'rushing to sell off spectrum' and 'failing to fund' what she called 'essential safety upgrades.'
Cantwell warned the Republican language in the budget reconciliation package would run ahead of work between the Federal Aviation Administration and wireless providers such as Verizon and AT&T to ensure that spectrum sales do not crowd out air-safety applications.
'At a moment when maintaining safe skies has never been more challenging, this proposal recklessly endangers national security and aviation safety by mandating spectrum auctions in the C-Band before new altimeter standards are even finalized, while providing zero resources to an already capacity-constrained FAA or to update vulnerable altimeters on DOD and government aircraft,' Cantwell said in a statement.
'By rushing to sell off spectrum and failing to fund these essential safety upgrades, we're setting ourselves up for a catastrophic repeat of the 5G C-band debacle—except this time we risk grounding the armed forces as well,' she said.
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.
Updated at 2:17 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iran admits U.S. strikes caused 'significant damage' to nuclear sites
June 27 (UPI) -- Iran officially acknowledged its nuclear sites had sustained "serious and significant damage" from U.S. air and missile strikes last weekend. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that while the extent of the damage was still being assessed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, it was undeniable that the losses were substantial and that the country's nuclear facilities "have been seriously damaged." The admission by Araghchi in an interview with Iranian state television on Thursday came amid conflicting reports on the efficacy of the unprecedented military action launched by the United States against three nuclear sites on June 21. Earlier Thursday, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khanamei claimed the opposite of his foreign minister, saying damage to the sites had been minimal and instead hailing the "damage inflicted" by Tehran's "victorious" retaliatory strike on the United States' Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Monday. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has said the strikes using 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles "completely and fully obliterated" Iran's nuclear program -- although public briefings have focused on the "primary site," a key underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, with few details forthcoming on the facilities at Natanz and Esfahan. U.S. officials have pushed back on a leaked preliminary report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency that assessed the strikes had only set back Iran's nuclear development by a few months at most, with the White House calling its findings "flat-out wrong." Araghchi said inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, might never be allowed back into Iran. Iranian lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday, effectively banning any future cooperation with the IAEA, which Tehran has accused of carrying out reconnaissance on behalf of Israel and the United States. The legislation has been waived through by the Guardian Council and will go forward to President Masoud Pezeshkian's desk for him to sign into law, or veto. "Without a doubt, we are obliged to enforce this law. Iran's relationship with the agency will take a different shape," Araghchi warned. The independent London-based Iran International said Tehran was considering quitting the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Thursday, reasserted Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear development afforded to it by the treaty, according to state-run Press TV. Citing Article IV of the 1968 agreement, he said Iran was determined to keep its nuclear program going "under any circumstances." The statement came a day after Trump, announcing fresh Iran-U.S. talks, said he wasn't interested in existing or new agreements because the only thing the U.S. would be asking for was "no nuclear." Araghchi took to social media to claim Iran had conducted itself honorably and abided by international diplomatic norms, contrasting its record against that of European countries and the United States in particular, accusing Washington of treachery for attacking when Iran-U.S. talks were still in play. "Our diplomatic legitimacy was undeniable. In every conversation I had with foreign ministers, they either approved Iran's rightful position or were forced into silence. We stood firm, and even adversaries acknowledged our position," he said in a post on X. "We have had a very difficult experience with the Americans. In the middle of negotiations, they betrayed the negotiation itself. This experience will certainly influence our future decisions." Araghchi confirmed no resumption of talks was planned despite Trump saying Wednesday that the two countries would meet "next week." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her regular briefing Thursday that nothing was "scheduled as of now," but that communication channels between the United States and Iran remained active.
The Verge
38 minutes ago
- The Verge
Trump's T1 phone drops its ‘Made in the USA' promise.
Trump's T1 phone drops its 'Made in the USA' promise. This week on The Vergecast , we revisited how the flagship Trump Mobile phone suddenly swapped out its 'Made in the USA' claim for 'Designed with American values in mind.' We already had our guesses about who might really make the T1, but with new specs and screen size, we might have to do another round of investigation.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Is Chinese history repeating itself in the US?
Scholars and commentators in both the US and China are drawing comparisons between the early months of President Donald Trump's second term and communist dictator Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. But some believe the way of Mao is unlikely to take root in America. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout explores the similarities and differences between the two leaders.
