THEY BURIED IT. NOW WE DIG IT OUT.

Four Months Before the Midterms. Here's What's at Stake. Your Washington Reps Are Counting On You Not Noticing In Time.

For years, the telecom industry has been trying to pass legislation eliminating your local government's authority over cell tower and small antenna placement in your community. The public kept stopping it. So they stopped trying to do it in the open. Congress is intending on imbedding those same provisions into a federal appropriations bill, a must-pass spending package that's nearly impossible to surgically remove. It hasn't been scheduled yet. That's the only reason there's still time.

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SOUNDING THE HORN: THE CONDUCTOR’S BRIEF: A fast, clear summary of the key takeaways to keep you informed on the go.

• The Backdoor Move: Congress intends to imbed the core of H.R. 2289 (as covered HERE) and will be filing it into a must-pass appropriations package, sidestepping open debate and burying a major preemption scheme inside a spending bill.

• What It Does: The measure would strip cities and counties of authority over where wireless infrastructure is built, how it is reviewed, and whether communities get a meaningful say.

• Why It Matters: This is not a standalone vote. It is a backdoor tactic designed to push through what could not survive direct public scrutiny.

• The Real Play: Once a policy rider is tucked into a must-pass bill, the public has less time, less visibility, and fewer tools to stop it.

• What’s at Stake: Local control, public notice, community safeguards, and the right to challenge infrastructure placed in your neighborhood.

• The Pressure Point: Appropriations packages are hard to unwind because members are pushed to vote yes to keep the government funded.

• The Timing: The bill has not been scheduled yet, which means the window to organize is still open…. but not for long.

• What You Do: Call your House member. Demand that H.R. 2289 provisions stay out of any appropriations bill.

• What You Say: “I oppose any spending bill that includes H.R. 2289. This belongs in a standalone public vote, not buried in appropriations.”

• The Job Now: Make it visible. Make it costly. Make every member know this will be a midterm issue.

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BURYING THE BILL

Let me tell you how this works.

You show up. You organize. You file public comments by the thousands. You pack the meetings. You get the National Association of Counties, the League of Cities, and the Conference of Mayors all on record in opposition. You make enough noise that even the industry knows it can’t push this through in broad daylight.

And then they stop trying to do it in broad daylight.

That’s where we are.

Congress plans on taking the core provisions of H.R. 2289, the bill that would strip your city and county of authority over where and how wireless infrastructure gets built in your neighborhood, and quietly slip it into an appropriations package. Not a standalone bill. Not something that has to stand on its own two feet in open debate. An appropriations bill. A must-pass spending package that funds the federal government and, by design, is nearly impossible to pick apart once it’s assembled and moving.

The appropriations bill hasn’t been scheduled yet. But it will be, before the midterms. You can count on it.

That is not a coincidence. That is a strategy.

WHAT WE ARE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT

H.R. 2289. If yo have been following my Substack ,you have heard about it. You may have even commented on it when the FCC opened its inquiry last fall, and thousands of you did, which is precisely why we’re in this situation.

Strip away the industry talking points and here is what this legislation does to your community:

A carrier can install a small cell on the utility pole in front of your home with no public hearing…. an by the way, the antennas, cables, and boxes are anything but small. No notice to you until the truck shows up. If your local government doesn’t act fast enough under newly tightened federal shot clocks, the permit is automatically “deemed granted.” Your city loses the right to collect fair compensation for the use of your own public streets. And, here is the one that should make your blood run cold because it does mine, local governments lose the ability to consider RF radiation health impacts in the permitting process, as long as a facility meets FCC exposure limits that haven’t been updated since 1996. A federal court has already ruled that the FCC failed to adequately justify those limits. The ruling sits there, unanswered, while the industry uses those outdated limits as a legal shield.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and NATOA put it in writing, in a joint letter of opposition, calling these bills "an unprecedented federal intrusion into established local decision-making processes, favoring large broadband, telecommunications, wireless, and cable companies at the expense of residents and taxpayers."

That’s a bureaucratic organization speaking. When bureaucratic organizations use language like “unprecedented federal intrusion,” they are screaming.

WHY THE APPROPRIATIONS ROUTE

A standalone bill has to be debated. Amended. Voted on directly. Every member goes on record. Opponents can organize. Journalists can cover it. You can show up.

An appropriations package is different. It moves fast. It’s complex. It’s hundreds of pages. It funds things people depend on. Members of Congress vote for it because the alternative is shutting down the government, and buried inside, if you’re not paying attention, are policy provisions that would never survive a standalone vote.

This is how it’s done when the public has already said no, loud and clear.. You don’t ask again. You just slip it in somewhere people aren’t looking.

That is not an accident. That is a feature of modern Washington politics…. and it’s underhanded.

FOUR MONTHS. HERE’S WHAT YOU DO

The appropriations bill hasn’t been scheduled yet. That means the window is open. It will not stay open long.

Make three friends on this issue. Not followers. Not people who already know. Three actual humans in your actual life who have no idea this is happening, a neighbor, a parent from your kid’s school, someone from your church or farmers market or book club. Simply speak with them. Bring them in. Show them what’s at stake. A movement that doubles doesn’t need to start big. It needs to start now.

One post a week. Consistent. Clear. Shareable. Not hysteria, information. Give people one thing they didn’t know and one thing they can do. That’s the whole post. Do it every week until November.

Call your representatives. Not email. Call. Calls to district offices move members. Tell them specifically: “I am calling to oppose any appropriations bill that includes provisions from H.R. 2289. These provisions do not belong in a spending package. They should not be passed without a full, standalone, public vote. I will be watching.” That’s it. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be a constituent who is paying attention, and says so out loud.

The people who control what goes into the appropriations bill are on the House Appropriations Committee. If your representative sits on that committee, they need to hear from you first and loudest. Find your representative here: house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative, then check if they're on the Appropriations Committee here: appropriations.house.gov/about/ membership. If they are, call them.

Make it a midterm issue. Every single member of the House is up for reelection in November. They are right now deciding what they’ll defend and what they’ll run from. A member who votes to strip your community of its authority over wireless infrastructure, in a provision buried in a spending bill, right before an election, should have to answer for that vote at every town hall, every debate, every door knock between now and November. Make sure they know you’re going to ask.

ARM YOURSELF. THEN ARM YOU NEIGHBORS

The resources are already built and waiting for you. Free. Downloadable. Covering health and vulnerable populations, children and schools, neighborhoods and property values, democracy and local control, environment, wildlife, privacy, surveillance, and industry corruption. Take them. Print them. Drop them at your city council meeting. Put them in your neighbor’s hands:

704nomore.org/educational-resources

Use them. That’s what they’re there for.

THE ONLY THING THEY’RE BETTING ON

The industry has seen what happens when people show up. They saw it last fall at the FCC. They saw it at planning commission meetings in counties across this country. They know a direct vote is risky.

So they’re betting you won’t notice what’s in the appropriations bill until it’s already signed. They’re betting you’re too tired, too busy, or too cynical to track a policy provision moving through a spending package four months before an election.

They have made this bet before and won.

This time, don’t let them.

Four months. Three friends. One post a week. One phone call.

That is the assignment.

Share this. Tag your representatives. Let them know you’re watching.

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