Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Wireless spectrum policy is vital to national security and the economy

Circuit board with 5G label
Funtap/Getty Images

Lopez is president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, a public policy advocacy organization that promotes liberty, opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.

While it may not get the dramatic headlines that other topics garner, few public policy issues will affect the future of our country the way telecommunications infrastructure will, specifically considering the current regulatory path for 5G and wireless spectrum.

How American policymakers handle spectrum will affect national security and American economic international competitiveness now and for decades to come. Economic growth, entrepreneurship, upward mobility, innovation, education and health care are among the areas that are and will be impacted.


That is because spectrum — the radio frequencies that transmit information wirelessly — is the foundation necessary to ensure that American consumers have access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet. And in our increasingly connected world, access to spectrum has a direct bearing on economic activity across vital industries.

American security and international status come into play because our economic competitors understand the crucial role that spectrum plays and are already relying on its use to be a key factor in commerce. Political leaders of all persuasions talk about ensuring that the United States leads the world’s economy — in particular over China, a country that many see becoming progressively adversarial toward us.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

There is spectrum to be had, but it needs to be made available. Historically, the Federal Communications Commission, which controls access to and use of the various spectrum bands for non-federal users, had authority to auction licenses. That authority expired over a year ago, and Congress needs to move on reauthorizing it.

The good news is that the spectrum auctions have been a Nobel-worthy approach that has been beneficial to taxpayers, bringing in more than $233 billion to the U.S. treasury, paid by wireless companies via the auctions. All companies can participate, including new entrants in the market. That increased competition among providers yields lower broadband prices for consumers.

Recently introduced legislation in the Senate, the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024, would in part reestablish the FCC’s auction authority — a necessary first step.

Along with auction reauthorization, the bill acknowledges the role of mid-band spectrum, which works well for 5G applications due to its combination of capacity and range. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration would be directed to identify at least 2,500 megahertz of mid-band spectrum that can be reallocated from federal to non-federal use.

Wireless industry association leaders project that in just three years, China will have nearly quadruple more licensed mid-band spectrum for commercial purposes than the United States. That analysis also shows that the U.S. is lagging behind countries like France, Japan, the United Kingdom and South Korea. In fact, the U.S. is currently ranked 13th in the world for assigned licensed mid-band mobile spectrum according to research from IT and technology consulting firm Accenture.

In addition to the wider issue of global competitiveness, there are the practical, everyday economic benefits for Americans in modernizing our spectrum policy that only increase the significance to moving spectrum policy forward. By now most Americans have an intuitive understanding of how they benefit from internet connectivity.

Those benefits still need to be expanded to parts of the population, however. The gap in access to communication technologies hurts millions of underserved communities. That is known as the digital divide — and wireless access is an essential component to addressing that disparity. For example, data from Pew Research Center shows that 20 percent of the Hispanic population relies solely on smartphones for access to broadband for internet connectivity. Other communities face similar circumstances.

Ensuring that access is an important component for improving prospects for economic opportunity.

The tangible role of the internet to education, a cornerstone for individual success, is evident. Improved internet access allows students to access online educational resources, participate in remote learning and engage in e-learning platforms. This helps level the playing field and ensures that individuals from all socioeconomic backgrounds have equal access to educational opportunities, enabling them to acquire the skills necessary for better career prospects.

The rise in Fixed Wireless Access, which uses wireless broadband for home and business internet, has been a positive development in this regard. FWA can continue to be one way for more people to enjoy broadband for the first time than before. But providers can only offer 5G FWA in areas where there is enough spectrum and network capability.

Policymakers need to understand the magnitude of wireless spectrum policy, and its ramifications for Americans, both as individuals in pursuit of social and economic advancement and for the country’s national security and standing. The costs of not doing so would be a significant, and lasting, setback on all these fronts.

Read More

Social Security card, treasury check and $100 bills
JJ Gouin/Getty Images

In swing states, both parties agree on ideas to save Social Security

A new public consultation survey finds significant bipartisan support for major Social Security proposals — including ideas to increase revenue and cut benefits — that would reduce the program’s long-term shortfall by 78 percent and extend the program’s longevity for decades.

Without any reforms to revenues or benefits, the Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted by 2033, and benefits will be cut for all retirees.

Keep ReadingShow less
Houses with price tags
retrorocket/Getty Images

Are housing costs driving inflation in 2024?

This fact brief was originally published by EconoFact. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Are housing costs driving inflation in 2024?

Yes.

The rise in housing costs has been a major source of overall inflation, which was 2.9% in the 12 months ending in July 2024.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' shelter index, which includes housing costs for renters and homeowners, rose 5.1% in the 12 months ending in July 2024.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Constitution
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

Imagining constitutions

Breslin is the Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair of Political Science at Skidmore College and author of “A Constitution for the Living: Imagining How Five Generations of Americans Would Rewrite the Nation’s Fundamental Law.”

This is the latest in “A Republic, if we can keep it,” a series to assist American citizens on the bumpy road ahead this election year. By highlighting components, principles and stories of the Constitution, Breslin hopes to remind us that the American political experiment remains, in the words of Alexander Hamilton, the “most interesting in the world.”

America’s Constitution is always under the microscope, but something different is happening of late: The document’s sanctity is being questioned.

Keep ReadingShow less
Federal Reserve building
Hisham Ibrahim/Getty Images

Project 2025: The Federal Reserve

Hill was policy director for the Center for Humane Technology, co-founder of FairVote and political reform director at New America. You can reach him on X @StevenHill1776.

This is part of a series offering a nonpartisan counter to Project 2025, a conservative guideline to reforming government and policymaking during the first 180 days of a second Trump administration. The Fulcrum's cross partisan analysis of Project 2025 relies on unbiased critical thinking, reexamines outdated assumptions, and uses reason, scientific evidence, and data in analyzing and critiquing Project 2025.

Few federal agencies are as misunderstood by the general public as the little known Federal Reserve Board. The Fed, as it is known, oversees the central banking system of the United States. That means it superintends many of the most crucial levers for making the economy run, including maintaining the stability of the financial system, supervising and regulating banks, moderating interest rates and prices, maximizing employment and more. Often when Congress is too politically polarized and paralyzed to fiscally stimulate the economy, many look to the Fed for faster executive action.

Keep ReadingShow less
Peopel crossing the border at night

Migrants cross into the United States from Mexico through an abandoned railroad on June 28, in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.

Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images

Have 25 million undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. and stayed during the Biden-Harris administration?

This fact brief was originally published by Wisconsin Watch. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Have 25 million undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. and stayed during the Biden-Harris administration?

No.

Authorities estimate the number of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration and remained at far less than the 25 million that Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance claimed.

Keep ReadingShow less