Congress passes omnibus funding bill without NG911 funding

Both the House and Senate have passed a $1.65 trillion omnibus spending bill that should assure that federal-government agencies will be funded through September, but the legislation does not include funding for IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments or long-term authority for the FCC to conduct spectrum auctions.

House members approved the spending measure by a 225-201 vote this afternoon, just a day after the Senate passed the budgetary item by a 68-29 margin. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill quickly to avert a federal-government shutdown that would have happened at midnight today.

As expected, the final omnibus bill includes language that extends the FCC’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions through March 9—a short-term fix that lawmakers are expected to address when the new Congress begins its session next month.

Notable communications items missing from the omnibus bill are plans for future FCC auctions, NG911 funding and funding to address the shortfall in the FCC’s “rip and replace” program to rid U.S. networks of gear from China-based vendors Huawei and ZTE.

All of these items were included in the Spectrum Innovation Act that the House passed in the summer. With a new Congress, this legislation will have to be reintroduced and gain approval on Capitol Hill to become law.

Some Beltway sources have expressed concerns whether this is possible in the new Congress—with a Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate—particularly without the urgency to address a pressing budget issue until this omnibus spending expires at the end of September.

However, more optimistic pundits have noted both parties want the FCC to be able to auction spectrum, and many Beltway sources believe there is a measure of political balance within the current Spectrum Innovation Act—many Republicans perceive the “rip and replace” program as a national-security priority, while many Democrats support the NG911 funding.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week cited the importance of the FCC have the ability to conduct spectrum auctions, noting that these events distribute airwaves to operators that provide valuable communications services and that they have generated more than $2 billion for the U.S. Treasury.

While there is consensus about the long-term importance of FCC spectrum auctions, many have noted that the lack of spectrum for the FCC to auction has dampened the urgency for lawmakers to pass what otherwise would be considered “must-pass” legislation extending the agency’s auction authority.

In the summer, the House passed the Spectrum Innovation Act—H.R. 7624—which would have extended the FCC spectrum-auction authority for 18 months and called for the FCC to auction at least 200 MHz of airwaves in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. Proceeds from that auction would first provide $3.4 billion for the “rip and replace” program, with up to $10 billion from the auction proceeds—if available—being used to pay for the NG911 transition nationwide.

Advocates for both the “rip and replace” program and the NG911 funding have asked that the proposed money for these initiatives be made available quicky—via some sort of borrowing authority—instead of waiting for a spectrum auction to be completed years from now.

In addition, the Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition and iCERT have sent letters to Senate leadership asking the that proposed amount of NG911 funding be increased to $15 billion to reflect the costs of training, cybersecurity and inflation that were not included in the NG911 cost study released more than 5 years ago.