Sen Cantwell, Commerce Committee Democrats Call for Regular Order on Dangerous and Damaging Commerce Title of Reconciliation Bill

We write to urge you to schedule a markup of the budget reconciliation text you released on June 5, 2025, instead of fast tracking these significant policies through a partisan floor process. If these policies are “bold and transformational” and will have an impact “for generations to come” as you argue, then they should be debated and considered through the regular order of our committee process. We, too, were elected by our constituents to represent the public interest, and we should be afforded the opportunity to properly serve them by considering this legislation before it is brought to the Senate floor....For example, this reckless proposal jeopardizes our national security by auctioning off critical defense spectrum, threatening the Wi-Fi that millions of Americans rely on daily, and impacting the aviation safety systems that protect passengers during every flight and the systems on Department of Defense and other government operated aircraft as well. We have already seen dangerous interference issues with 5G deployment near aviation spectrum and this proposal risks repeating those mistakes knowing that new radio altimeter standards and equipment needed for flights to operate safely are far from ready. This bill also puts at risk critical safety spectrum used by NOAA for current and future next generation weather radar systems and frequencies used by local governments and automakers to improve the safety of our roads. And while you argue the bill keep us safe from our enemies, it guts $850 million in funding for Open RAN investments we need to compete globally against China and Huawei. Lastly, the AI moratorium proposal tramples states' rights and holds the $42 billion BEAD program hostage, further delaying the broadband Americans desperately need.