CBA: Senator looks to object to FCC proposal
February 17, 2020
Senator John Kennedy (Republican, Louisiana) is reportedly considering introducing emergency legislation which could override the FCC’s decision of $9.7 billion of inventive payments.
The Politico news-site says that Kennedy has plans for his Appropriations Committee (which he chairs) to “unvote” the FCC’s proposals later in the year and ahead of the December spectrum auction.
Kennedy also questioned whether – as reported – President Trump was backing the FCC’s proposals. Politico quotes the senator saying: “President Trump hasn’t [backed it] — Pence has, and Kudlow has. Any of these people who are for this, I wouldn’t take them to buy a car with me because they would pay the sticker price.”
The story provoked a strong comment from lobby group ‘5G Action Now’, which said: “It is extremely disappointing that Senator Kennedy is looking to slam the brakes on the progress we saw last week with Chairman Pai’s announcement of a public auction of the C-Band spectrum. Make no mistake, the US is in a race to 5G development and deployment against China and the longer we wait, the further we fall behind. We have already seen one ally – the UK – put our national security at risk by letting Huawei build part of its 5G infrastructure.”
“Fortunately, Chairman Pai’s plan will allow us to catch and eventually beat China. Doing so would benefit not only our national and economic security, but also would allow Louisiana to supercharge its economy and provide its residents with cutting edge technology to make their lives easier,” said 5G Action Now in a statement. “We implore Senator Kennedy to work with the Trump Administration and the FCC toward our collective goals of national and economic security in the 21st Century by supporting their efforts to get to full 5G development and deployment before Beijing does.”