Spectrum part of Recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction Offered by Rep Waxman

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter to the Co-Chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction offering views on the policies the Committee should pursue in its efforts to meet its deficit reduction goals. In the letter, Rep. Waxman describes important initiatives that fall within the jurisdiction of the House Commerce Committee that in combination would drive significant short-term economic growth and job creation, while being fiscally responsible over the long term. The suggested measures would create over 560,000 jobs and save over $150 billion for deficit reduction over the next ten years.

The Joint Select Committee should consider new spectrum auctions as a mechanism to create jobs and raise significant revenue for deficit reduction. Either as part of your recommendations or through separate legislation, Congress should provide the Federal Communications Commission with authority to conduct voluntary incentive auctions to efficiently and responsibly repurpose broadcast and other spectrum for wireless broadband uses. In addition to authorizing incentive auctions, such legislation should direct the Administration to identify any federal spectrum that can be utilized more efficiently and reallocated for auction or shared use.

A portion of the proceeds from auctions associated with these policies should be used to fund the creation of a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network.

If structured appropriately, these policies and auctions will deliver considerable economic and public safety benefits for our country. These benefits have been well documented by economists, industry stakeholders, state and local governments, and public interest organizations. Funding the deployment of a nationwide wireless broadband communications network for public safety agencies would lead to the creation of an estimated 100,000 new jobs in the information and communications technology industry and, over time, produce other economic benefits of $4 billion to $8 billion per year. Even greater benefits can result from auctioning new spectrum. Expert economists believe that the build-out of 300 MHz of new spectrum made available for commercial mobile broadband uses will create more than 300,000 new jobs and an additional $230 billion in GDP over five years. Because the proceeds of the spectrum auctions would significantly exceed the amount needed to build out the public safety network, the net savings should be in the range of $15 billion.
First responders, governors, state and local officials, and every major public safety organization in America urge that the critical “D block” of spectrum be reallocated for public safety use. This additional spectrum will ensure that public safety has sufficient bandwidth to meet current and future wireless broadband needs. The Joint Select Committee should include this reallocation in any spectrum proposal.