Sen. Cruz (R-TX) Leads Senate Republicans in Calling on FCC to Halt ‘Digital Equity’ Plan

We write in response to your recently circulated Draft Order on “Digital Discrimination” that would turn section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into a sweeping mandate for heavy-handed Internet regulation and expose every nook and cranny of the broadband business to liability under a “disparate impact” standard. Your Draft Order, which largely follows a Biden administration diktat, will create crippling uncertainty for the U.S. broadband industry, chill broadband investment, and undermine Congress’s objective of promoting broadband access for all Americans. We urge you to adhere to the will of Congress and conform to the plain meaning of section 60506 to avoid causing serious damage to the competitive and innovative U.S. broadband industry. First, your Draft Order’s “disparate impact” standard of liability is unlawful. Second, your Draft Order would subject an untenably broad array of broadband business decisions to intrusive regulation. Third, your Draft Order is flippant when it comes to the real-world impact of these burdensome rules on broadband deployment in the United States.