Commissioner Anna Gomez Urges FCC to Lead USF Talks

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2025 – FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez urged policymakers Tuesday to set aside partisan fights and focus on more pressing issues, like ensuring the availability of spectrum and broadband infrastructure.

“I keep hoping that we will turn away from the partisan culture wars and instead focus on our core priorities,” Gomez said speaking at the INCOMPAS Policy Summit on Tuesday. 

She pointed to more pressing issues, like legal challenges to the Universal Service Fund that could jeopardize broadband access for millions of Americans.

“Besides continuing to be good stewards of this fund, this is an opportunity for [the FCC] to convene a multi-stakeholder process to come up with ways to strengthen the USF and to make recommendations to Congress on ways to make it more sustainable,” Gomez said.

“These threats against the Universal Service Fund are quite serious,” she added. “I’m hoping that… it’s found to be constitutional, and we don’t have these issues that have been alleged.”

She also called for Congress to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, which lapsed two years ago, warning that failure to act would hurt innovation.

“We really need to get that spectrum auction authority back as soon as possible,” she said. “It’s very difficult for us to plan for future auctions if we don’t have that authority. We can’t move forward with rulemakings, and that stalls innovation and deployment.”