Senate Passes Defense Bill Without Changes to Spectrum Language

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2025 – The Senate passed Thursday an annual defense policy bill without changes to a key spectrum provision.

The language, included in the Senate-passed bill, would allow top military officials to veto modifications to the lower 3 GigaHertz (GHz) and much of the 7/8 GHz bands. Those airwaves, currently used by the military, are already protected from being auctioned under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had still hoped to axe the veto provision.

He said the National Telecommunications and Information Administration would likely have to move other federal operators into the bands at issue to meet the OBBBA’s goal of auctioning 500 megahertz of government spectrum, something Cruz pushed hard to secure. He worried vetoes from the Pentagon, which is not eager to disrupt critical systems, could complicate efforts to free up spectrum.