Chairwoman Cantwell Secures Key Investments in NDAA to Accelerate American Tech Innovation, Protect America’s Networks from Adversaries and Drive America’s Economic Strength

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) secured just over $3 billion to ensure communities across the country can remove and replace Chinese-owned telecommunication equipment from U.S. networks. There are roughly 24,000 pieces of unsecure Chinese-made equipment in our networks across the country, with most located in rural communities or near military bases. Congress created the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement (Rip and Replace) program to help small telecom companies remove and replace this unsecured equipment, yet failed to approve enough funding. For American households, without funding to “rip and replace” this equipment, many providers may be forced to cut off service to residents. And as many rural providers are often the sole providers in their region, local residents and any travelers through that area would be unable to contact 911 in case of an emergency, causing significant public safety issues. In Washington state, there are 63 sites across the state in urgent need of network replacement. This just over $3 billion will put small providers back on track to securing their networks and preserving service to residents. Funding for these investments will be generated from spectrum auction proceeds. The spectrum provisions secured in the package will allow the Federal Communications Commission’s to conduct a one-time auction for the AWS-3 spectrum band to help meet the surging spectrum demands of wireless consumers.