The Bush administration's 2004 budget calls for the reintroduction of legislation to create a spectrum relocation fund from which the Pentagon can draw on to move military radio systems off frequencies identified for third-generation wireless systems and onto other airwave bands.

The White House estimated the fund would cost $2.5 billion from 2005 to 2010. One potential hurdle is the $2.2 trillion budget's projection of a $307 billion deficit in fiscal 2004. The budget deficit for fiscal 2003, which began Oct. 1, is expected to be $304 billion, and over the next five years it could balloon to more than $1 trillion.