[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5120-S5123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Ligado

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first of all, I am here today to share 
some news about a key subject we have been talking about for quite some 
time, and that is Ligado. It is a complicated thing. It is something 
where one company was able to get rushed over a weekend in April of 
2020 and get recognized and get an agreement from the FCC to have an 
operation that deals with the individuals that are wanting to be 
involved in this group.

[[Page S5121]]

  The 15 government Departments and Agencies signed a petition for 
reconsideration of a flawed decision. Keep in mind that this is a 
decision by the FCC with the NTIA, the National Telecommunications and 
Infrastructure Administration, because they manage Federal spectrum.
  Now, when the new administration was sworn in this January, the 
petitions were still pending. The NTIA, which I just now used the 
initials of, is very well-known. This is the one that has the 
responsibility to take care of the Department of Commerce, some of 
their instructions, some of their activities. So I spoke with Secretary 
Gina Raimondo, who is the Secretary of Commerce for the new 
administration, about the importance of continuing the petition for 
reconsideration. I also followed up with a letter.
  What is a petition of reconsideration? What we are talking about here 
is that a decision was made by the FCC, and they have been petitioned 
by almost every bureaucracy and many, many individuals--over 100--to 
have a reconsideration. And this has not happened yet.
  And so we changed administrations, and, of course, the new 
administration came in and Secretary Gina Raimondo did a great job with 
the importance of continuing the petition for reconsideration.
  I wanted to make sure that even with the change in administration, 
the government Departments and Agencies still wanted to see the harmful 
order repealed. And here is the breaking news. I just got a letter from 
Secretary Raimondo, confirming now that ``there has been no change to 
the Department of Commerce's or [the] NTIA's opposition to the FCC's 
Ligado Order.''
  And that says it all. It says this administration is in full 
agreement with the previous administration, and they will be acting 
accordingly.
  She also pledges that the NTIA will continue to pursue the petition 
for reconsideration--the petition that represents the Departments of 
Commerce, Defense, Interior, Justice, Homeland Security, Energy, 
Transportation, NASA, FAA, and more--virtually, the entire government.
  Now, this is huge. This shows, once again, that there is bipartisan 
concern about the Ligado order and that it is continuing into the Biden 
administration.
  It is not an exaggeration when I say that the Ligado order would be 
devastating to public safety, our national defense, and even our way of 
life. And everybody knows that.
  The reliability of GPS and satellite communications is necessary for 
the safety of life operations, national security, and economic 
activity.
  Here are some of the day-to-day things people might not think of as 
being a part of the users of GPS and how it affects our daily lives. A 
big one is using your credit card or debit card when you are making a 
purchase or anything in terms of making transactions.
  Another one is making a phone call--even making a phone call. Cell 
phone networks rely on GPS to synchronize the cell towers so calls can 
be passed seamlessly. Otherwise, they could get bogged up, and if they 
experience interference, your call could be dropped when moving from 
tower to tower.
  Here is one that most people don't expect, and that is energy. Why 
would energy be dependent upon an accurate and reliable GPS system? 
Well, whether that is filling up your tank at the pump or managing 
electrical grids to light our homes, we rely on GPS timing to safely 
operate underground pipelines and our electricity grid.
  Farmers and ranchers depend on GPS and satellite communications when 
planting crops, applying fertilizer, and during our harvest operations, 
to move large critical machinery from place to place.
  I was back in my State of Oklahoma last week and met with a bunch of 
farmers, and I learned myself how farmers are using GPS now. This is a 
thing that wasn't true just a few years ago, but it is true now.
  Working out. A lot of healthy people are out there doing what they 
ought to be doing with their bodies, and that is working out. A study 
last year found that one-fifth--that is 20 percent--of all Americans 
use a fitness tracker or smart watch, the majority of which use the GPS 
to count steps and track distances.
  Taking a flight. Commercial and civilian aviation relies on GPS 
navigation and satellite communications to operate safely.
  Driving around. Each day, countless Americans rely on Google Maps, 
Waze, Apple Maps, and other forms of navigation systems to get them 
from point A to point B. And they rely on GPS to do that.
  And while no one hopes that they ever need a firetruck, an ambulance, 
or other emergency services, 9-1-1 operators and EMS use GPS and 
satellite communications to locate a caller and navigate as quickly as 
possible.
  We had a hearing just a few weeks ago, and we had the Helicopter 
Operators Association talk about their emergency runs and what would 
happen to them if they lost the reliability of GPS.
  And there is more: weather forecasting, the movement of goods on our 
highways, surveying maritime harbors and channels, operation with 
construction and mining equipment. The list goes on and on.
  I had a personal experience about 20 years ago with one of the uses; 
that is, I had occasion with three individuals and participants to fly 
an airplane around the world.
  I am from Oklahoma. Of course, we are all familiar with Will Rogers. 
Some people are not quite as familiar with Wiley Post. Wiley Post flew 
around with Will Rogers. They flew around the world. So what I was 
doing was replicating that flight in my plane around the world. I was 
using a Trimble--that is the manufacturer--a Trimble TNL 2000. That was 
the first time, I think--I haven't checked since then--that it has been 
used for private use for flying around the world. Nonetheless, that is 
a GPS system.
  Because the FCC order allows Ligado to repurpose spectrum to operate 
a terrestrial-based network, Ligado signals on Earth's surface will be 
much more powerful than GPS, causing substantial and harmful 
interference.
  How do we know Ligado will cause interference?
  The FCC told us when they approved the Ligado order. They said--you 
should listen to the FCC statement:

       Ligado shall expeditiously repair or replace as needed any 
     U.S. Government GPS devices that experience or are likely to 
     experience harmful interference from Ligado's operations.

  That is a quote. Remember that quote. I will tell you about a bill we 
will introduce to correct this problem that is serious to so many 
people.
  Last year, we also held a hearing on the Armed Services Committee to 
hear how the Ligado order would impact the military and warfighter. All 
of the witnesses--Dana Deasy, Michael Griffin, General Raymond--they 
are all united.
  Dana Deasy, the former Chief Information Officer at the DOD, said it 
best when asked if he thought the Ligado order would have an impact on 
DOD or the Federal spectrum. He said:

       Yes, the fact that we're sitting here today, and you have 
     General Raymond here representing our military, would clearly 
     suggest that . . .

  We wouldn't be sitting here today if it didn't have a heavy impact on 
our military operations.
  There has been multiple testimony about that. The NTIA petition filed 
in April of 2020--and, again, signed by the Departments of Commerce, 
Defense, Interior, Justice, Homeland Security, Energy and 
Transportation, as well as agencies like NASA and the FAA--is also 
clear and united. There is no division of opinion on this.
  That alone should be enough to overturn the order. If not, we need to 
make sure Federal agencies, State governments, and all others 
negatively impacted by the actions of Ligado are not left holding the 
bag when it comes to costs and, worse, aren't put in the position where 
they have to push the costs onto the American consumers.
  Everyone is on our side with this. The whole of government and over 
100 private-sector groups all agree, and they all agree no one else is 
on the side of Ligado except paid lobbyists.
  Ligado said this order is about winning the race to 5G and beating 
China. Those who claim Ligado's proposal is necessary to beat China's 
5G push are deliberately mixing up two different and important spectrum 
issues in order to sell their product: the sharing of mid-band 5G 
spectrum by DOD with industry and harmful interference of Ligado's 
signal with the low-band GPS

[[Page S5122]]

signals used in nearly every aspect of daily life.
  Ligado's spectrum they are repurposing is not in prime mid-band 
spectrum being considered for 5G, and Ligado's low-band spectrum was 
not a part of the FCC's own plan to accelerate 5G development released 
in September 2018, called the 5G FAST Plan.
  Reliable GPS and satellite communications are important to everyone 
in America and drives much of our Nation's economy. We should not 
sacrifice GPS reliability. In the event the petitions for 
reconsideration are not successful--I can't imagine they would not be 
because almost every bureaucracy in most of the private sector are 
behind these. This is happening all over the country. But in the event 
that the petitions for reconsideration are not successful, I have 
introduced legislation, and I won't give you the name of that because 
it is one of these things where there are too many words involved. We 
refer to it as the RETAIN Act to protect the users of GPS when, by 
approving the Ligado order, the FCC did not.
  Just last week, companion legislation was passed by the House of 
Representatives, by   Jim Cooper,  Mike Turner, Frank Lucas, GT 
Thompson,   Ken Calvert, Nydia Velazquez, Abigail Spanberger, and  Don 
Beyer. They introduced companion legislation to that legislation that 
we are currently introducing.
  As of last week, we had more than 100 organizations who have signed a 
letter supporting the RETAIN GPS Act to hold Ligado accountable for the 
interference that they cause.
  Clearly, the momentum is with us and the letter from Secretary 
Raimondo I announced earlier is a great example of that. Clearly, 
today's announcement is a big step for the good guys
  Let me make sure people understand what we are talking about. We are 
talking about those who are responsible--that is Ligado--for the use of 
that spectrum, if and when, as most people are predicting, it does 
something that damages the GPS system. We are talking about the system 
that every user in America uses--that if they do that, then they have 
to pay for it. That is all. They have to pay for it rather than have 
the public pay for it.
  Now, that is really the end of what I am trying to get across to 
people how serious this is.
  I want to put down in the Record all the agencies that are strongly 
supporting this. We have the Department of the Army, Department of 
Defense, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Navy, 
Department of Commerce, NASA, Department of Interior, Department of 
Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, 
National Science Foundation, Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast 
Guard, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, at the conclusion of my 
remarks, these organizations be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. I would add to that group the NTIA, which represents a 
lot of government in addition to what I just read. I would like to add 
the names--I have a list here of well over 100--talking about Aerospace 
Association, Agricultural interests, the American Farm Bureau, all of 
these--virtually every recognizable organization in America is among 
the 105 organizations that are supporting this.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this letter also be 
printed in the Record
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       The undersigned IRAC agencies endorse and support the 
     position stated by the Department of the Air Force and the 
     Department of Defense:
       Ms. Sarah Bauer, Department of the Army; Mr. Rene (RJ) 
     Balanga, NASA; Mr. John Cornicelli, Department of Homeland 
     Security; Mr. James Arnold, Department of Transportation; Mr. 
     Kenneth Willis, Department of the Navy; Mr. Ramon L. Gladden, 
     Department of the Interior; Mr. George Dudley, Department of 
     Energy; Mr. Jerry Ulcek, U.S. Coast Guard; Mr. Ivan Navarro, 
     Department of Commerce; Mr. Quan Vu, Department of Justice; 
     Mr. Jonathan Williams, National Science Foundation; Mr. 
     Michael Richmond, Federal Aviation Administration; and NTIA.
                                  ____

                                                    June 29, 2021.
     Hon. James M. Inhofe,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Jack Reed,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Tammy Duckworth,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mike Rounds,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators: The undersigned companies and organizations 
     strongly endorse the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access 
     to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite 
     Communications Act or the ``RETAIN GPS and Satellite 
     Communications Act'' introduced today. This legislation would 
     ensure that the costs incurred by the public sector, 
     businesses and consumers as a result of the FCC's decision to 
     permit Ligado Networks LLC to use spectrum in a way that 
     would cause interference to GPS and satellite communications 
     would be covered by Ligado--the licensee benefiting from the 
     decision.
       The FCC's Ligado Order already recognizes the potential for 
     interference to GPS receivers and requires that, ``Ligado 
     shall expeditiously repair or replace as needed any U.S. 
     Government GPS devices that experience or are likely to 
     experience harmful interference from Ligado's operations.'' 
     But the Order failed to go far enough in three key ways. 
     First, it did not provide an adequate description of the 
     potential costs to federal agencies and thus the American 
     taxpayer. Federal agencies are responsible for ensuring 
     reliable GPS and satellite communications necessary for all 
     manner of safety of life operations. Second, while 
     recognizing the potential costs associated with interference 
     to Federal agency owned devices, the FCC order inexplicably 
     fails to require that Ligado also bear the costs of 
     interference to other government and private owners of 
     devices and applications that may be disrupted by Ligado's 
     proposed operations. Third, the Order improperly applies 
     interference limits that are fundamentally insufficient to 
     protect critical satellite communications and navigation 
     signals from unknown millions of Ligado devices operating 
     over wide geographic areas.
       Ninety-nine percent of GPS receivers are used in critical 
     applications by non-Federal government users, businesses and 
     consumers. In addition, the Order similarly threatens the 
     satellite communications networks that can enable 
     technologies used to complement and support GPS. The 
     reliability of GPS and satellite communications is necessary 
     for safety of life operations, national security and economic 
     activity; critical communications capabilities; commercial 
     and civil aviation; first responders, 9-1-1 and other public 
     safety operators; military readiness and communications; 
     weather forecasting; the movement of goods on our highways; 
     the marking maritime harbors and channels; farmers planting 
     and harvesting crops; operation of construction and mining 
     equipment--and the list goes on and on.
       The Retain GPS and Satellite Communications Act 
     acknowledges the harm to GPS and satellite communications end 
     users caused by the Ligado order and ensures the burden of 
     cost sits squarely where it belongs--on Ligado, rather than 
     our first responders, farmers, pilots, boat owners, surveyors 
     or construction companies. We commend you for recognizing the 
     expense and burden the Ligado order places on federal 
     agencies, American taxpayers, businesses and consumers, and 
     for providing clear and immediate relief to critical 
     stakeholders with this legislation. Thank you for your 
     leadership on this important issue.
           Sincerely,
       Aerospace Industries Association (AIA); Agriculture 
     Retailers Association; Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l 
     (ALPA); Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA); Aircraft 
     Electronics Association; Aircraft Owners and Pilots 
     Association (AOPA); Aireon, LLC; Airlines for America (A4A); 
     Airo Drone, LLC; Alaska Airlines; Allegiant Air; Allied 
     Pilots Association; American Airlines; American Association 
     for Geodetic Surveying (AAGS); American Association of 
     Airport Executives; American Bus Association; American 
     Concrete Pavement Association; American Concrete Pipe 
     Association; American Council of Engineering Companies.
       American Farm Bureau Federation; American Rental 
     Association; American Road & Transportation Builders 
     Association (ARTBA); American Society for Photogrammetry and 
     Remote Sensing (ASPRS); American Society of Civil Engineers 
     (ASCE); American Soybean Association; American Sportsfishing 
     Association; American Trucking Associations; Associated 
     Equipment Distributors; Associated General Contractors of 
     America (AGC); Association of American Geographers (AAG); 
     Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM); Association of 
     Marina Industries; Atlas Air Worldwide; Aviation Spectrum 
     Resources Inc. (ASRI); Blue Origin; Boat Owners Association 
     of The United States, BoatU.S.; Cargo Airline Association 
     (CAA); Cartography and Geographic Information Society 
     (CAGIS).
       Center for Sportfishing Policy; CNH Industrial; Coalition 
     of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA); Coalition of 
     Geospatial Organizations (COGO); Coastal Conservation 
     Association; CoBank; CompTlA Space Enterprise Council; Crown 
     Consulting Inc.; Cubic Corporation; Delta Air Lines; Eastern 
     Region Helicopter Council (ERHC); Equipment Dealers 
     Association; Esri; FedEx Corporation;

[[Page S5123]]

     Frontier Airlines; General Aviation Manufacturers Association 
     (GAMA); GIS Certification Institute (GISCI); Hawaii 
     Helicopter Association; Helicopter Association International 
     (HAI); Hellen Systems.
       Intelligent Transportation Society of America; 
     International Air Transport Association (IATA); International 
     Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO); Iowa-Nebraska 
     Equipment Dealers Association; Iridium; L3Harris; Lockheed 
     Martin; Management Association for Private Photogrammetric 
     Surveyors (MAPPS); Marine Retailers Association of the 
     Americas; Maxar; MidAmerica GIS Consortium (MAGIC); National 
     Agricultural Aviation Association; National Air Carrier 
     Association; National Air Transportation Association (NATA); 
     National Asphalt Pavement Association; National Business 
     Aviation Association (NBAA); National Cotton Council; 
     National Defense Industrial Association; National Marine 
     Manufacturers Association; National Ready Mixed Concrete 
     Association (NRMCA).
       National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS); National 
     States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC); National 
     Stone, Sand and Gravel Association; National Utility 
     Contractors Association; NetJets Association of Shared 
     Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP); NEXA Capital Partners LLC; Oklahoma 
     Defense Industry Association; Oklahoma Society of Land 
     Surveyors; Polar Cargo; Portland Cement Association; Regional 
     Airline Association (RAA); Resilient Navigation and Timing 
     Foundation (RNTFnd); Skytrac; Southwest Airlines; Southwest 
     Airlines Pilots Association; Spirit Airlines; Subsurface 
     Utility Engineering Association; Sun Country Airlines; The 
     Vertical Flight Society; Trimble; U.S. Contract Tower 
     Association; U.S. Geospatial Executives Organization; United 
     Airlines; United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation 
     (USGIF); University Consortium for Geographic Information 
     Science (UCGIS); Urban and Regional Information Systems 
     Association (URISA); USA Rice.

  Mr. INHOFE. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.