Senate Commerce Pitches Spectrum for Deficit Supercommittee

The Senate Commerce Committee has offered the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction recommendations for changes in law to reduce the deficit. The Committee requests inclusion of S. 911, the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act, in recommended legislation. The Commerce Committee reported S. 911 by a strong 21-4 bi-partisan vote on June 8. The measure provides significant short-term and long-term benefits to our Nation’s fiscal health, economic and job growth, and public safety.
Specifically, S. 911 does this by providing our nation’s first responders with the spectrum they need to communicate, authorizing spectrum auctions to assist public safety in building out a nationwide interoperable network, and providing real money for deficit reduction. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), even without making any modifications to the bill, the legislation generates $6.5 billion for deficit reduction.

While it is the measure’s deficit reduction that makes it most relevant to your work, S. 911 also delivers on one of the outstanding recommendations of the 9/11 Commission – providing an interoperable wireless communications network for first responders. Now, 10 years after the tragic events of 9/11, we live in a world marked by a national mindset of vigilance and substantially strengthened security efforts. Unfortunately, our public safety communications remain stuck in the past, and our nation’s first responders still lack the necessary spectrum and dedicated funding to deploy an interoperable wireless broadband network. S. 911 offers a way to meet this national challenge in a forward-looking and financially responsible way, without costing taxpayers a dime.

S. 911 also promises to create additional market-based jobs by facilitating the transfer of large amounts of spectrum to commercial mobile broadband use. According to one recent report by the Analysis Group for Mobile Future, reassigning 300 megahertz of spectrum to the mobile broadband marketplace within five years would spur $75 billion in new capital spending, creating more than 300,000 jobs and $230 billion in additional gross domestic product. Plus, the nationwide build-out obligations in S. 911 would lead to enhanced wireless deployment and job growth in rural America – where too many communities today lack the wireless infrastructure necessary to succeed in our modern economy.

It is also important to note that S. 911 remains the only bi-partisan public safety and spectrum legislation introduced, considered at multiple legislative hearings, and favorably reported from Committee. Moreover, it enjoys significant support – from the Administration; our Nation’s governors and mayors; our Nation’s law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical officials; and many within the commercial wireless and high-tech industries.