Supporters of pending legislation that would reallocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety and mandate incentive auctions of unused broadcast television spectrum that would be reallocated to wireless carriers are reformulating their strategy in the wake of the debt reduction supercommitee’s failure this week to reach terms on legislation to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion. In hopes of expediting passage of the Senate measure (S.911) calling for incentive auctions and D-block reallocation, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and other proponents had urged the supercommittee to attach S.911 provisions to deficit reduction legislation that was to have been finalized today and voted on by both houses of Congress by December 23. Sponsored by Rockefeller and ranking Senate Commerce Committee member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), S.911 had been approved by committee members in June and is currently awaiting a vote on the Senate floor. (Similar legislation is also pending before the House, where some members of the Republican majority have put up resistance on grounds that the D-block should be reauctioned instead of reallocated.) Although supercommittee members had confirmed support for adding the spectrum provisions to the deficit bill, Rep. Jeb Hensaring (R-TX) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the supercommittee’s co-chairs, lamented on Monday that “our inability to bridge the committee’s significant differences” on other provisions led to the failure of the debt bill. Anticipating the supercommittee stalemate, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) suggested last week that S.911 provisions could be attached to an omnibus appropriations bill that is slated for debate later this year, although that path could prove to be difficult. Voicing optimism that “there are other vehicles available that will ensure our members can access unused or underutilized spectrum,” an official of wireless association CTIA said, “we look forward to working with Congress to ensure the U.S. wireless industry remains the world’s leader.”