A bill intended to speed up federal approval of new satellites remains on hold after the Senate Commerce Committee did not return to work on the proposal Wednesday, a day after Democrats raised concerns at a markup that ended abruptly due to the lack of a quorum.
Before the committee recessed on Tuesday, Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, indicated that it would come back “shortly, perhaps as soon as tomorrow” before a scheduled hearing on autonomous vehicles. But that hearing took place without a return to the markup and it was not rescheduled as of midday.
The bill was among seven other measures that were scheduled for consideration on Tuesday after senators approved a set of nominations. Cruz sponsored the satellites bill, which would set time limits of up to 18 months for the Federal Communications Commission to act on different types of satellite applications. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., co-sponsored the measure.
The panel’s ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., raised concerns about potential automatic approval of massive satellite constellations like the one that Elon Musk’s SpaceX proposed in an application late last month. She offered an amendment that would strike “deemed granted” language in the bill, sections that would automatically approve satellite licenses if the FCC didn’t make a decision by the end of the review period.
She specifically questioned whether the FCC would have time under the bill to sufficiently review applications for large numbers of satellites. SpaceX applied last month to launch a constellation of up to 1 million “orbital data centers.”
Separately, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., offered and withdrew an amendment she said would stipulate that in order to be eligible for the streamlined processes provided by the bill, satellite broadband companies would need to be in compliance with the requirements of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. She said the amendment was in response to reports that Musk’s SpaceX subsidiary Starlink is seeking to change its agreements with states under the federally funded grant program.
Cruz on Tuesday accused Democrats of seeking changes to the bill because of their political objections to Musk, a sometimes close ally of President Donald Trump.
He highlighted a bill that advanced unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2023 as showing bipartisan support for speeding up satellite approvals.
Cruz said the House bill contained similar “deemed granted” language, but Cantwell contended that the House language was different and that she preferred the narrower version in that bill.
The House bill used the language for certain earth stations and for modifications to licenses. The Senate version’s deemed-granted language would apply to satellite and earth station license applications and applications for renewal of a license or a grant of market access.
Cantwell’s office circulated a letter from the American Astronomical Society that expressed concern over the deemed-granted provisions, saying that as written they “may lead to the inadvertent granting of applications that could have significant negative impacts on federally funded astronomical facilities and the discoveries they would otherwise make. Such automatic granting of an application might also threaten orbital safety, if there is no review of its orbital debris mitigation plan.”
Expediting satellite approval is a priority shared by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Last year, Carr said in prepared remarks that the FCC had a plan to “modernize our licensing processes to match the scale and dynamism of today’s space economy.”
“Our goal is to make sure that the U.S. is the friendliest regulatory environment in the world for innovators to start, to grow, and to accelerate their space operations,” Carr said.
He added that the FCC licensing process would be replaced with a “licensing assembly line.”
“One way to think of this is that we will replace a ‘Default to No’ process with a ‘Default to Yes’ framework. Straightforward licensing requests would be presumed to be in the public interest and expedited. We would also simplify our applications, establish clear timelines so companies know what to expect, and increase flexibility for licensed operations,” Carr said.
At its October meeting, the FCC adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking to overhaul its licensing rules. The notice is currently in the reply comment period.
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