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Federal bureaucrats’ spectrum squatting hurts America’s global leadership and national security
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In his opening statement at today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing titled “America Offline? How Spectrum Auction Delays Give China the Edge and Cost Us Jobs,” Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) raised the alarm on the urgent need to auction spectrum to preserve America’s global technology leadership, protect national security, create millions of jobs, and improve the lives of American consumers. Spectrum auctions have unlocked billions for the Treasury while enabling our nation’s wireless networks to deliver better connectivity, fueling the rise of breakthroughs from the iPhone to generative AI.
Sen. Cruz warned that the last administration’s bureaucratic dithering caused American spectrum leadership to lag, enabling Communist China to control communication networks worldwide. To end the spectrum drought and strengthen national security, we must restore the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auction authority and expand commercial access to mid-band spectrum.
Here are Sen. Cruz’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
“Good morning. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will come to order.
“Auctioning spectrum has been one of the most successful drivers of American innovation, economic growth, and global technology leadership. Spectrum auctions have unlocked billions for the Treasury while enabling our nation’s wireless networks to deliver faster, better connectivity, fueling the rise of breakthroughs from the iPhone to generative AI. This has created millions of jobs, spurred new industries, positioned American companies at the forefront of global innovation, and, most importantly, improved the lives of American consumers.
“The next wireless leap—whether it’s driverless cars, remote surgeries, and air taxis—may be just around the corner. But whether Americans will reap the benefits—and whether it will be made here or overseas—depends on our will to unlock more spectrum. Â
“We stand at a critical juncture. It’s been two years since the FCC lost auction authority and three years since the last meaningful auction of spectrum valuable to American consumers. The dithering and the inaction characteristic of the last administration yielded nothing.
“Meanwhile, our spectrum innovation lags the rest of the world as China, an adversarial surveillance state, threatens to control worldwide communication networks.
“Thanks to this new Congress and the historic election of President Trump, we have an opportunity to build better and faster networks, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and secure America’s global technological lead.
“The Spectrum Pipeline Act, which Leader Thune, Senator Blackburn, and I introduced last year, restores FCC auction authority and ends our spectrum drought. Through a clear pipeline of mid-band spectrum, American companies will have the certainty they need to invest billions in their networks and lead the world in revolutionary innovation.
“Certain special interests, aligned with adversaries like Huawei, have falsely portrayed a spectrum pipeline as a blunt instrument to deprive the Defense Department of the spectrum it needs to engage in 21st century warfare.
“To the contrary, our bill ensures both consumer interests and defense capabilities are protected. The bill has a generous timeframe for performing the necessary feasibility studies so federal missions are not degraded. And it uses the existing deliberative process, which is carried out by technical experts across the federal government, including DoD, to begin auctioning a fraction of underutilized federal spectrum.Â
“But studies are not enough to spur action: we need clear goals. For many years now, U.S. government incumbents, particularly bureaucrats at the Pentagon under the direction of Mark Milley, have insisted they are using every single megahertz as efficiently as possible and must maintain absolute control of their vast spectrum holdings.
“Look, I am open to compromise on what the aggregate pipeline target number should be, but zero is objectively unreasonable. And no institution should be afforded blind deference—especially not one that can’t even pass an audit and claimed that leaving billions in tanks, helicopters, and weapons in Afghanistan was more efficient than bringing them home.
“But don’t just take it from me. Military analysts with firsthand experience agree that we are falling behind, both in terms of its effective usage, and in the development of intellectual property and wireless capabilities. Further, the Pentagon is not the only user of the airwaves globally. Many of the bands used by DoD are used commercially in countries like Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. If DoD cannot operate alongside wireless carriers using these bands domestically, how can we expect it to prevail in a Pacific conflict?Â
“There are also significant opportunity costs for our national defense in delaying spectrum auctions. A pipeline would be lucrative, raising $100 billion or more for rebuilding our military, funding border security, and financing Coast Guard polar icebreakers. That’s a valuable offset for reconciliation.
“But the risk of doing nothing is broader than lost revenue. We are fighting a global technology race against communist China. If we do not catch up and lead, it will be Huawei that creates the backbone of tomorrow’s global communication networks through which much of the world’s economic traffic—and indeed, much of our government’s traffic—will flow. Chinese infiltrations, like the recent Salt Typhoon attack and the release of DeepSeek, are but a small preview of a future where Chinese equipment sets the standards and dominates global networks. Negative ripple effects cascade indefinitely from there, handicapping our efforts in other adjacent technologies like AI, quantum, and semiconductors and threatening to make America the loser in the 21st century technology race. We cannot allow that to happen.
“Now is the time. Let me make a final point. The Commerce Committee, as we take up reconciliation, will move forward on spectrum. It would be an abdication of our responsibility to do anything otherwise. We must move quickly and together to preserve the Promethean flame of American technology and to bolster our national security for years to come, we must prevail in the race against China.”
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