Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) announced that they plan to increase their request in upcoming legislation aimed at ensuring all K-12 students have adequate home internet connectivity and devices during the coronavirus pandemic. The senators previously announced their intention to introduce the Senate companion to legislation, the Emergency Educational Connections Act, recently introduced by Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) in the House.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) led 31 of their colleagues in a letter to House and Senate leadership requesting robust funding for all K-12 students to have adequate home internet connectivity if their schools close due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Senators expressed their disappointment with the lack of such funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that recently passed Congress, despite their repeated call for resources dedicated to distance learning.

Twenty-eight senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding that it consider how repealing net neutrality could negatively impact public safety, universal access, and broadband competition. In October 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Trump FCC’s repeal of the Open Internet Order as lawful but also ruled that the FCC failed to adequately consider public safety, the Lifeline program for low-income consumers, and competitive broadband providers’ access to poles needed to deploy their networks.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding recent reports that it is considering future partnerships with companies including Google, Facebook, IBM and others, some of which would involve analyzing information about the location of those companies’ users, to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) led thirteen of their colleagues in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily allow schools to utilize E-Rate program funding to provide Wi-Fi hotspots or devices with Wi-Fi capability to students who lack internet access at home. This action would help ensure that all students can remotely continue their education during the current public health emergency.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) took to the floor of the Senate to demand an immediate vote on the Save the Internet Act, legislation that reverses the repeal by President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission of critical network neutrality protections. The Save the Internet Act enshrines the three legacy net neutrality principles – no blocking, no throttling and no paid prioritization – and empowers the FCC to prohibit unjust, unreasonable and discriminatory practices.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and 29 other senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission requesting that the agency discard any plans for setting an overall cap for the Universal Service Fund (USF) programs. "Such a proposal would harm broadband deployment, rural health care opportunities, classroom learning, and life-long learning through public libraries by forcing them to compete in order to receive necessary funds.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA.) led eight of his Democratic colleagues in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to maintain essential elements of the “Kid Vid” rules, which ensure access to children’s education programming on over-the-air broadcast television, in accordance with the Children’s Television Act. The letter, a response to the Commission’s recently-released draft order, urges FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to preserve existing rules requiring broadcasters to air three hours of regularly scheduled educational children’s programming a week on their primary stations.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Facebook urging the company to institute policy changes in light of evidence that third party game developers manipulated children into spending their parents’ money. Previous reporting by the Center for Investigative Reporting demonstrated that Facebook personnel had direct knowledge that children were spending large sums of their parents’ money on in-app purchases without parental knowledge or permission. New evidence now reveals that Facebook has still not instituted key policy changes to address this issue.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging the FCC to deny a petition by the ITTA-Voice of America’s Broadband Providers that would permit carriers to display Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund contributions on customer bills. TRS ensures persons with hearing or speech disabilities are able to use necessary telephone services at no additional cost to an individual consumer.