Congress approves $1B for rural telecom companies to ditch Huawei

The Senate unanimously voted Thursday to pay rural telecom carriers $1 billion to rip and replace any gear in their networks from Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE.

The Senate action sends the legislation to President Donald Trump for his signature. Top administration figures have indicated general support for the funding, which would mark yet another victory in the president's efforts to exclude Huawei from telecom networks in the U.S.

The administration has alleged that Huawei is an arm of China’s communist government — something it denies — and would pose a national security threat if allowed to help build the 5G networks of the U.S. or its global allies. The new legislation is aimed at ensuring Huwaei's gear also vanishes from existing, slower networks.

The House unanimously passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act in December following bipartisan consensus on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) had sought to move the measure by unanimous consent in his chamber shortly afterward only to face a block from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who worried over how lawmakers would pay for this funding.

As POLITICO reported earlier this month, Lee dropped his objections, paving the way for today’s sign-off.

Dozens of small U.S. carriers have Huawei and ZTE equipment embedded in their networks. Many bought the equipment years ago, largely due to the gear's low cost.

Huawei has warned that the legislation would probably spell layoffs among its U.S. operations.