Summer is a time when things typically slow down—especially in Washington, D.C. (Just ask the Nationals, who recently made it clear that they’re heading nowhere fast). But at the FCC, we are full steam ahead. Rather than dial things back, we’re ramping up our activities this Summer season to advance our Build America Agenda.
Since I unveiled this agenda in South Dakota two short weeks ago, we have advanced real, tangible actions on each and every policy goal.
This push begins in earnest in just eight days at our July open meeting where we will consider previously announced proposals to accelerate the upgrade from old copper line networks to modern ones, to remove barriers to broadband buildout by easing access to utility poles, and to move forward with the first spectrum auction in four years.
We will continue to execute on the Build America Agenda with an August lineup that will feature votes on eight (perhaps an August record?) items.
Kicking it off, we will consider a proposal to curtail one of the biggest obstacles to building in America: needless and costly environmental reviews. Specifically, under the sclerotic regulatory regime that has been grafted onto the National Environmental Protection Act or NEPA process, federal agencies spend more time on average (4.5 years) to complete pre-construction environmental impact statements than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.
All three branches of the government realize that the NEPA process is broken. In 2023, Congress reformed NEPA to eliminate many unnecessary reviews and accelerate others. Right after his inauguration in 2025, President Trump directed federal agencies to streamline their NEPA processes to unleash new builds. A few months later, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling to curb NEPA litigation abuse. Now it is time for the FCC to do its part. We will consider a proposal to revamp the FCC’s approach to NEPA and get America building again.
Unfortunately, NEPA isn’t the only place where getting government permission is harder than building new things. Over the last few years, it has taken more time for satellite applications to move through the regulatory review process than it has for engineers to build and launch a spacecraft into orbit. That is unacceptable and we intend to fix it.
For starters, we are laser focused on processing applications that have piled up over the last several years. During my time as Chairman, our Space Bureau has already cut the backlog of pending applications in half. The chart below tells the story:
But shrinking the backlog is only part of the solution. Often, paperwork piles up because our rules ask for too much unnecessary paper. Making the smallest changes to a satellite system can require a new FCC approval. This August, we will consider an Order to further streamline and expedite the application process for space stations and earth stations. We will delete FCC approval requirements for a range of activities that pose no risk to the public. Eliminating unnecessary paperwork doesn’t just improve efficiency—it kickstarts American innovation. In particular, our reforms promise to boost an emerging business model—Ground-Station-as-a-Service—that allows multiple satellite systems to share the same ground station. Space startups win as a result: they are spared the time and money to build their own bespoke infrastructure.
The Build America Agenda also requires the FCC to focus on the unsung hero of our modern communications networks—undersea cables. These networks of cables carry roughly 99% of global Internet traffic and will prove key to further extending America’s leadership in AI and next-generation technologies. That is why the FCC is working to unleash the buildout of secure submarine cable infrastructure as part of our Build America Agenda. Therefore, we will vote to streamline the submarine cable licensing process, give certainty to investors, and accelerate the timelines for building cables. But with foreign adversaries, like China, posing greater threats to submarine cable infrastructure than ever, we simultaneously will vote as part of that item to adopt measures to protect submarine cable infrastructure from foreign adversary threats. We are therefore following the guidance of President Trump’s America First Investment Policy Memorandum—streamlining investment into the U.S., coupled with restrictions on foreign adversaries that seek to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities and threaten American national security.
As we work to implement our Build America Agenda, it’s important to measure our progress to see what’s working and where we can do better. Congress requires the Commission to report annually on “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” Frankly, the way the Commission has produced this 706 Report in the past could be improved. So we will vote to take a fresh approach to evaluating the deployment of advanced telecommunications. The notice will reorient the questions posed to track more closely to the plain language of Section 706 of the Act.
Our August meeting will also feature multiple proposals to support a core tenant of the Build America Agenda: public safety.
Since July 4th, the thoughts and prayers of the nation have been with the families of the Texas Hill Country, where historic floods claimed over 120 lives, including dozens of children and staff from Camp Mystic. I’m grateful to all of the first responders and people across the area who acted quickly to prevent this unthinkable tragedy from being even worse. At the FCC, we are committed to doing everything we can to harness the power of communications to save lives in times of crisis. The Monday after the Texas floods, the Commission hosted a pre-scheduled roundtable on network resiliency where I heard from stakeholders from the communications, power, and public safety sectors about how best to make sure our networks stay online during emergencies. The conversation was timely and helpful context for the two items we’re teeing up in August.
In three weeks, we will vote to begin a ground-up re-examination of the Emergency Alert Systems (EAS). EAS sends life-saving information using TV and radio outlets, and our Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) distribute the emergency notices we receive on our mobile phones. With underlying frameworks that are 31 and 13 years old respectively, we think it’s time to explore if structural changes to these systems are needed, with an eye towards making sure we are leveraging the latest technology to save lives.
Similarly, we will also vote to initiate a review of our system for collecting real-time data on network outages and restoration during and after major disasters. Since its inception in 2007, our Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) has proven to be a valuable tool for collecting actionable information to help with recovery efforts. While the DIRS reports are valuable, they can be time-consuming to produce, drawing resources away from responding to an ongoing disaster. The Commission will vote on reforms to streamline DIRS to make sure that its benefits outweigh its burdens.
We’ll close our August meeting by removing unnecessary regulations and injecting common sense across the Commission’s policies—critical features to streamline the implementation of our Build America Agenda.
For years, the Commission over-regulated the market for the broadband services purchased by businesses, such as backhaul, crushing the incentives for private operators to make network upgrades. Under Chairman Pai, the Commission took a series of actions to ease the government micromanagement of these so-called business data services. As it is now clear to everyone, there is always room to make an upgrade from Pai, so we will expand the efforts begun under his leadership and consider a proposal to further deregulate business data services currently subject to ex ante pricing regulation. We will also commence the first comprehensive review of this market in six years with the goal of identifying additional areas for regulatory relief.
Speaking of deleting unnecessary rules, we are back at it in our In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding. This month, we will vote to eliminate 98 obsolete broadcast rules and requirements—totaling 5,117 words and a little over 12 pages—like 1970s-era regulations dictating the kind of testing equipment radio stations are required to purchase.
No matter what the season, two packed open meetings over a two-week span is a lot. I’m grateful to all the FCC staff who have put in the work so that we can come out of the gates fast on our Build America Agenda. And we are not seeing much of a slowdown in the coming months either. With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the restoration of the Commission’s spectrum auction authority, and a Congressional mandate to rebuild our spectrum pipeline, the Fall looks like it will be even busier. And to any doubters out there who might be skeptical if we can get all this work done, I have only one thing to say: We’re gonna do it anyway!
