{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases/fedorchak-joins-punchbowl-news-conversation-expanding-spectrum-powering-ai-and", "Fedorchak joins Punchbowl News for conversation on expanding spectrum, powering AI, and rebuilding America\u2019s infrastructure edge", "2026-04-21", "2026", "2026-04", "Republican", "House", "ND", "Julie Fedorchak", "F000482", "fedorchak.house.gov", "fedorchak", "https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "I spent 12 years as a utility regulator in North Dakota, and we permitted. That was one of our key areas of responsibility and jurisdiction. I led the permitting portfolio and permitted $15 billion worth of infrastructure.\n\nIf we want to get on board with the ultimate goal of moving infrastructure, we have to be able to start getting this infrastructure up and out, and it's going to be helpful to the locals and everybody they serve.\n\nSo, we need to listen, acknowledge what their concerns are, and make sure they have the facts on the bill, because I think there were fewer problems in terms of taking away their jurisdiction than they think. We need to educate and bring them on board.\n\nI think some of it is on the \u2018grand compromise\u2019 that occurs for permitting reform\u2014making sure we don't give away too much on the cost allocation for power lines.\n\nIf we decide that we're going to socialize the cost of power lines to every American, then that is going to drive people's costs up, and you are going to be making every day Americans pay for infrastructure that's being used by AI and the big data centers.\n\nAnd by the way, they don't want that to happen\u2014[the companies] want to pay. If we don't get in the way, if we create the right legal, tax, and regulatory environment, if we do the permitting reform, I think that the companies will figure this out and you will create an environment where they want to move and connect quickly. They're going to bring their own generation, their own transmission, and get it done and pay for it.\n\nWithout energy, we can't do anything. We can't actually support the broadband industry. We can't support the water. We need power to drive all of this.\n\nI come at it from a standpoint that these utility industries are so vital to everything we do in this country, and there are things that Americans completely take for granted because you all and the power providers are so good at doing the work.\n\nYou have to have folks that are willing to put in the time to understand it\u2014more than just a talking-point level but beyond that at a technical level\u2014so you can get the policies right.\n\nWhat I bring is that appreciation and the willingness to really dig in and try to understand it so that we can get the policies right.\n\nAnd if you look at a graph on power, it\u2019s scary how much power China is bringing on and how little the U.S. is bringing on in comparison.\n\nWe're always going to have to be ahead on the tech side with China, so we have to get permitting reform in place. It might take 20 years to permit a new power line. Even cable\u2014the simple stuff that's very small\u2014and underground ones that's put in, takes years.\n\nFixing that is essential to allowing the industry to build the infrastructure needed to provide all of the services that Americans want and need and depend on for their daily life.\n\nI'm pleased FCC already has the first auction out there. I think it's for 180 megahertz of the 300 that they have to get completed in the 10-year timeframe.\n\nThen the second big step is going to be trickier and tougher\u2014and that is finding and accessing the 500 other megahertz\u2014developing the proper communication channels, coordination, and working relationships with the DOD largely to find that space and getting it done.\n\nBut I comfort myself when you look at how technology changes\u2014like analog TV, when we did away with that, it freed up a whole bunch of spectrum. We know that DOD has a whole bunch of those older technologies sitting out there that we can identify and get rid of and create new spectrum.\n\nIt's the same thing that's happened in the energy sector too. We thought we're going to run out of oil and gas. In the 70s, you couldn't use gas for anything other than gasoline. Now we're using it for power generation\u2014that was not even allowed back in the 70s.\n\nI think everything needs to be explored, and we need to look at all possible angles and not keep anything off.\n\nWe should be using everything that we have. We shouldn't be retiring power generation right now\u2014we need it all. So let's hold off for maybe three to five years and get as much as we can out of existing resources.\n\nAnd then we need to optimize everything that we already have\u2014optimize our existing power lines. I introduced the High-Capacity Grid Act. Many in the room have supported that. It\u2019s aimed at just that: optimizing our existing power and transmission lines. Because building a new one is going to take five to ten years at best.\n\nI know that we've been at this point before in recent years, but I think now there's a better understanding that we can't wait any longer.\n\nIf we were to wait another Congress with the political dynamics changing, I\u2019ve had even some Democrats say to me, it's not going to get better. We have to do it now.\n\nI don't understand opposing this, because if we're rebuilding, it's just obvious that we should use the new lines that have the greatest capacity so we can push the most energy through those lines.", 1, "2026-05-06T06:05:57Z", "2026-05-06T06:07:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fedorchak.house.gov/media/press-releases/fedorchak-joins-punchbowl-news-conversation-expanding-spectrum-powering-ai-and"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0320350993424654, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}