S-1962-119
Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S4956; text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S4956)
Sponsored by Deb Fischer (R-NE)
What it does
This bill would amend the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to prohibit the FCC from granting satellite licenses, U.S. market access, or earth station authorizations to any entity on the FCC's "Covered List" of companies deemed national security risks, or to affiliates of those entities (defined as 10% or greater ownership or control). It would also let the FCC issue reports assessing supply chain security risks for satellite licensees using equipment from listed entities, and requires the FCC to issue implementing rules within one year of enactment.
Who benefits
U.S. satellite operators and telecommunications companies not affiliated with listed entities, who would face less competition from restricted foreign competitors; national security agencies seeking to limit foreign access to U.S. communications infrastructure; domestic satellite manufacturers and launch providers who could gain market share.
Who is hurt
Foreign satellite and telecommunications companies (particularly those from China, given the Covered List's current composition, which includes firms like Huawei and ZTE) that would be barred from the U.S. satellite market; any U.S. businesses or joint ventures with 10% or greater ownership ties to listed entities; U.S. consumers or businesses who might otherwise have benefited from added competition or lower-cost satellite services from affected providers.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that satellite systems carry sensitive communications and data, and that allowing companies already flagged as national security risks under the Covered List to control satellite licenses or earth stations would create the same espionage and sabotage vulnerabilities Congress already acted to prevent in terrestrial telecom networks. They contend this closes a gap in the 2019 law, which addressed equipment and networks but did not explicitly extend the same restrictions to satellite licensing and earth station authorizations.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue the bill relies on an existing Covered List determination process that lacks the same due-process safeguards as a formal adjudication, potentially barring companies from a lucrative market based on an executive-branch listing without an equivalent case-specific hearing. They contend the broad 10% affiliate threshold could sweep in legitimate joint ventures or minority investors with no genuine security risk, discouraging foreign capital and complicating international satellite partnerships without a clear cost-benefit showing of the actual threat avoided.
Constitutional context
Congress has broad authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including communications, under the Commerce Clause, and courts have generally upheld national-security-based restrictions on foreign ownership of licensed spectrum and communications infrastructure. Because the bill ties licensing denial to inclusion on an existing agency-maintained list rather than creating new individualized adjudication, any due process challenge would likely be evaluated under rational basis review given the economic/national-security regulatory context rather than heightened scrutiny.
Checks and balances
Congress directs the FCC (an executive/independent agency) to deny licenses based on a list the FCC itself compiles, with the FCC also given rulemaking authority to implement the prohibition and discretion to issue (or not issue) supply chain risk reports, and post-Loper Bright, courts reviewing any FCC implementation would apply independent judgment rather than automatic deference.
Historical precedent
This builds directly on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, which barred federal subsidies for network equipment from Covered List entities and required their removal from existing U.S. networks, extending a similar restriction to satellite and earth station licensing.