Advancing American Wi-Fi Against Foreign Adversaries Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9151 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9151

  To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant
Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to develop a
plan for how the United States will advance and advocate for Wi-Fi and
         other unlicensed technologies, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 4, 2026

  Mr. Latta (for himself and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
 Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant
Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to develop a
plan for how the United States will advance and advocate for Wi-Fi and
         other unlicensed technologies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Advancing American Wi-Fi Against
Foreign Adversaries Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the leadership of the United States with respect to Wi-
        Fi, 6G, and satellite technologies is a national priority;
            (2) the United States is the birthplace of Wi-Fi technology
        and home to the world's leading developers, manufacturers, and
        innovators with respect to unlicensed spectrum;
            (3) Wi-Fi contributes more than $1,000,000,000,000 annually
        to the economy of the United States, and is estimated to
        contribute $2,400,000,000,000 in 2027, which helps to enable
        commercial activity, the provision of education and health
        care, and the maintenance of public safety;
            (4) maintaining and advocating for a global system that
        supports Wi-Fi technology is essential to continuing the
        leadership of the United States in advanced technologies and
        building networks of trusted telecommunications infrastructure;
            (5) strategic and unified engagement at, and leading up to,
        the World Radiocommunication Conferences of the International
        Telecommunication Union is critical to--
                    (A) advance the spectrum priorities of the United
                States; and
                    (B) counter actions from adversaries that seek to
                upend the leadership of the United States;
            (6) adversaries, such as the People's Republic of China,
        have pushed for spectrum policies at World Radiocommunication
        Conferences and in other fora that seek to reverse the global
        momentum made with respect to Wi-Fi technology, with the aim of
        forcing reliance on untrusted, foreign-controlled
        infrastructure;
            (7) because the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027
        will be held in Shanghai, China, coordination between key
        Federal agencies is essential to creating a unified strategy
        and building a coalition of countries allied on spectrum
        priorities and countering adverse action by the People's
        Republic of China; and
            (8) it is critical for the success of the United States at
        the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 to--
                    (A) achieve timely decisions on national technology
                and spectrum priorities;
                    (B) appoint a head of delegation as swiftly as
                possible to support the positions of the United States;
                and
                    (C) actively engage allies and potential allies to
                build support for the stated spectrum priorities of the
                United States.

SEC. 3. PLAN FOR ADVANCEMENT OF UNLICENSED TECHNOLOGIES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
                Transportation of the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
                Senate;
                    (C) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
                House of Representatives; and
                    (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
                of Representatives.
            (2) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary''
        means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications
        and Information.
            (3) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
        Communications Commission.
            (4) Plan.--The term ``Plan'' means the plan described in
        subsection (b).
            (5) Unlicensed.--The term ``unlicensed'' means, with
        respect to technology, that the technology may be operated
        without an individual license, as provided in part 15 of title
        47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations.
            (6) Wi-fi technology.--The term ``Wi-Fi technology''--
                    (A) means wireless local area networking technology
                that is--
                            (i) commonly known as ``Wi-Fi''; and
                            (ii) based on Institute of Electrical and
                        Electronics Engineers standards 802.11, or any
                        successor standards; and
                    (B) includes the spectrum access and regulatory
                frameworks that enable the technology described in
                subparagraph (A).
            (7) WRC-27.--The term ``WRC-27'' means the International
        Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference
        scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, from October 11 to
        November 12, 2027.
    (b) Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, acting
        through the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the
        Commission, the Secretary of State, the United States Trade
        Representative, the Under Secretary of Commerce for
        International Trade, and the heads of other relevant Federal
        agencies, shall develop, submit to the appropriate
        congressional committees, and make publicly available on the
        website of the National Telecommunications and Information
        Administration a plan describing how the United States will
        advance, and advocate for, the global adoption of Wi-Fi
        technologies, unlicensed technologies, and spectrum allocations
        for unlicensed technologies, including at WRC-27, through,
        among other actions, promoting global harmonization of the band
        of electromagnetic spectrum from 5925 megahertz to 7125
        megahertz for the use of Wi-Fi technologies and unlicensed
        technologies.
            (2) Public input.--The Assistant Secretary shall--
                    (A) seek public comment in developing the Plan; and
                    (B) consider comments received pursuant to
                subparagraph (A) when finalizing the Plan.
            (3) Required contents.--The Plan shall include an
        assessment of, and strategies to counter, efforts by the
        Chinese Communist Party, representatives of the government of
        the People's Republic of China, and representatives of other
        governments that are adversaries of the United States to
        undermine unlicensed technologies and Wi-Fi technologies.
    (c) Report on Implementation.--Not later than 90 days after the
date on which WRC-27 concludes, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the
implementation of the Plan, which shall--
            (1) to the extent possible, include a mechanism to track
        the progress of the implementation of the Plan; and
            (2) be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a
        classified annex.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed
to require the disclosure of classified information, information that
is subject to privilege, or proprietary or trade secret information.
                                 <all>