US Senate

In a letter to Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Sen.

Sixteen Senate Democrats introduced new legislation building on the Emergency Broadband Connections Act to ensure working families can stay online through the current economic and health crisis. The new legislation would authorize an additional $6 billion for the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, to accommodate high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX) reintroduced the bipartisan Eliminate the Digital Divide Act, to distribute $10 billion to states to build out broadband infrastructure in unserved areas.

Sens Brian Schatz (D-HI) and John Thune (R-SD) reintroduced the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act, bipartisan legislation to update Section 230 of the Communications Act. The PACT Act will make platforms’ content moderation practices more transparent and hold those companies accountable for content that violates their own policies or is illegal.

Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 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.

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the minority leadership from the House and Senate Commerce Committees asked about the FCC's status on completing its mapping process to ensure accurate broadband data collection. [Congress just allocated the funds the FCC needs to do the mapping in December 2020.] "[W]e are concerned that delays in completing these maps could lead to further delays in distributing critical broadband funds," the Members of Congress write. "You have repeatedly stated that the FCC could quickly produce new broadband maps.

Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Broadband Reserve Fund Act. This legislation would require the net proceeds from the C-Band spectrum auction to be deposited into a reserve fund at the Department of Treasury to be used to expand broadband access and digital opportunity, modernize the nation’s communications infrastructure, and meet other connectivity priorities.

In a letter to the Biden Administration’s top officials for federal broadband policy -- including Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Acting Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Jessica Rosenworcel, and Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese -- the senators called on federal agencies to update broadband program speed requirements to reflect existing and anticipated uses, from two-way video conferencing to smart grids to artificial intelligence.