Luján, Heinrich, Markey, Van Hollen, Welch, Meng Condemn FCC Effort This Week to Strip Internet Access from Students

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Representative Grace Meng (NY-6) today led 47 of their colleagues, including U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, decrying the FCC's effort to roll back two decisions helping students and educators connect to the internet. On Tuesday, the FCC is scheduled to vote on two items: (1) Repeal of a rule allowing libraries and schools to use E-Rate funds to provide Wi-Fi hotspots to students and educators, and (2) Reversal of the decision allowing E-Rate funds to support Wi-Fi on school buses. In an unusual move, Carr abruptly added these two items to the FCC's meeting agenda last week, instead of giving the public the traditional three weeks' notice ahead of Commission votes at an open meeting.

In the letter, the lawmakers write, "We write in strong opposition to the items you have circulated at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to repeal the rule allowing libraries and schools to provide Wi-Fi hotspots to students and educators and reverse the decision allowing E-Rate funds to support Wi-Fi on school buses. Rolling back the E-Rate hotspot and school bus decisions would undercut some of the most effective tools for addressing inequities in home connectivity and would reverse progress in closing the 'Homework Gap.' For millions of students, especially those from low-income households, internet access outside of school walls is not a luxury but a prerequisite for academic success. We urge the Commission to preserve the E-Rate hotspot program and Wi-Fi on buses to ensure that low-income students are not left behind."

The lawmakers continue, "As you know, the FCC typically announces items to be voted on at an open meeting three weeks before the meeting date, including releasing a draft of the proposed items. The public then has two weeks to discuss the proposal with commissioners and their staff before all advocacy with the Commission must cease in the week before the open meeting. That is exactly how the Commission proceeded when it adopted both the E-Rate hotspots final rule and declaratory ruling on school bus Wi-Fi. In advancing these repeals, however, you did not include either the E-Rate hotspots or school bus Wi-Fi items when the meeting agenda was announced on September 9. Instead, you abruptly included them on an updated agenda released one week before the September open meeting, depriving members of the public of an opportunity to weigh in on the draft order. This non-transparent, last-minute process on such important matters is unacceptable. The Commission should remove these items from the meeting agenda and follow standard Commission protocol at a future open meeting."

Other Senate signers of the letter include: Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Other House signers of the letter include: Becca Balint (D-VT), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (IL-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Greg Landsman (OH-01), George Latimer (NY-16), Summer Lee (PA-12), Doris Matsui (CA-07), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Robert Menendez (NJ-08), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Nydia Velázquez NY-07), and Eugene Vidman (VA-07).

In February 2024, Senators Luján, Heinrich, Markey, Van Hollen, and Representative Meng joined 63 of their colleagues in a letter to then FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, supporting the Commission's proposal to expand the E-Rate program. In 2021, Senator Luján introduced bipartisan legislation to provide E-Rate Support for School Bus Wi-Fi to help close the homework gap while students travel on their daily school bus routes. Senator Luján and then-U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) first introduced legislation to make school bus Wi-Fi eligible for E-Rate in 2018.

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

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