House Communications Leaders Agree to Advance C-Band Act by Voice Vote

House Communications Subcommittee leaders agreed to let the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) advance to the full House Commerce Committee Tuesday, but there hasn’t been an agreement yet on the bill’s underlying language, subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us Monday night. HR-4855 would allocate most proceeds of the coming FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to fund telecom projects. It’s among 11 spectrum, media diversity and public safety communications measures the subcommittee plans to mark up Tuesday.

“We’re going to pass [HR-4855] by voice vote” but “we’re still negotiating” on the bill’s language with House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and others, Doyle said in an interview. “We’re passing the shell of the bill” for purposes of advancing it to the full committee and are “still working” to reach a consensus ahead of that future markup. “We’re going to have a bill one way or the other” by the time House Commerce leaders decide to bring HR-4855 up for a full committee vote, Doyle said.

Walden confirmed he won’t object to advancing HR-4855 out of House Communications. He emphasized the lack of an agreement with Democratic leaders on the bill text. “The key is not to upend” the C-band auction given the FCC’s recent vote to advance a plan for the sale, he told us. Walden remains against “anything we do that would” hinder the current timeline of making C-band spectrum available for 5G.