US Senate

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission highlighting testimony presented at the June 27, 2018 hearing on the proposed T-Mobile US and Sprint merger. The letter draws the agencies’ attention to important issues raised by witnesses appearing at the hearing, including the resulting increase in market concentration in the wireless telecommunications industry, and the potential for the merger to create a more competitive wireless carrier.

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) released the following statement after Facebook provided responses to questions posed by Sen Markey in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica privacy breach. In his questions, Sen Markey asked Facebook to commit to not include advertising in children’s offerings and to commit to not share children’s information for targeted advertisements, once young users turn 13.

Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) called on the Federal Communications Commission to share more information about the reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the FCC’s website while it was open for comments on net neutrality in 2017.

Sens Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Steve Daines (R- MT) have introduced the bipartisan Reprioritizing Unserved Rural Areas and Locations for Broadband (RURAL Broadband) Act of 2018, which will prioritize federal funds that are used to provide broadband access to areas that are unserved with no access, before they are used to upgrade areas with existing service. Their bill is a significant step toward prioritizing unserved rural areas in Vermont and other states.

Sens Tom Udall (D-NM) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced a bill to put wireless internet on school buses in order to help students without broadband access at home get online to study and do homework.

Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced the “Mobile Accuracy and Precision Broadband Act” (MAP Broadband Act) (S 2955). If enacted, the bill would help improve the accuracy of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mobile broadband coverage map and ensure that federal resources are targeted to unserved communities that do not have access to reliable mobile broadband service. The legislation would address problems with the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) presumptive eligibility maps.

Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), members of the Senate Commerce Committee, led 61 senators in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, supporting the advancement and the accessibility of broadband services in rural communities. In the letter, the senators requested more predictable and long-term efficiencies in the FCC’s High-Cost Universal Service Fund, which is responsible for helping meet the Commission’s goal to provide reliable and affordable communications to all Americans.