Letter

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Broadband Subcommittee Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) sent a letter to Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to request a status update on the Federal Communications Commission's long-form application review process for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. The auction awarded $9.2 billion over ten years to over 300 bidders to deploy high-speed broadband to over 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses in 49 states.

Internet access for the Cuban people is of critical importance as they stand up against the repressive Communist government. Such access may be the key to finally bringing democracy to the island. The tyrannical regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel has shut off access to the Internet. The Cuban people have lost their ability to communicate with one another, and many Floridians born in Cuba have no information on the safety of their loved ones. Equally as important, the world has also lost the ability to see what is happening on the ground as the Cuban people rise in support of freedom.

Ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee Roger Wicker (R-MS) sent a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) asking the agency to reassess its data collection processes and sources, and to use only the most up-to-date and accurate data as it updates its map.

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the Department of the Treasury to provide crucial flexibility to state and local governments in the use of American Rescue Plan funds in order to help close the digital divide and ensure families can afford broadband. Under the American Rescue Plan, state and local governments are able to use funding from the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund and the $10 billion Capital Projects Fund to expand broadband infrastructure.

Over 170 organizations joined in a letter to Congressional leadership urging full funding to universally build networks that will deliver capacity that will meet local needs for decades and to ensure rigorous scrutiny of recipients of federal dollars so that the program achieves the legislation’s future-proof goals. A federal program by Congress that emphasizes delivering future-proof infrastructure can enable not just ubiquitous fiber wireline access, but also make possible ubiquitous wireless services that rely on fiber optics including 5G, next generation Wi-Fi, and their future iteratio

The National Lifeline Association urged the Federal Communications Commission to expeditiously release a Public Notice seeking comment on the association's Petition for Rulemaking so that others can comment on it and the FCC can build a record to take the necessary actions to transition the Lifeline program into a program that is post-Emergency Broadband Benefit Program ready. The FCC should not work in a linear fashion, but rather consider important improvements to the Lifeline program now so that those improvements can be in place when the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program funding runs

Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI) led a group of 20 senators in calling on the leaders of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to share data to identify communities without high-speed internet access and work together to improve broadband connectivity. In a letter to the agency leaders, the senators also called on them to collaborate and find ways to ensure families in need also have information on accessing Lifeline, an existing federal phone and internet service program. “We urge HUD and USDA t

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) urged Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) to schedule an oversight hearing to review the Federal Communication Commission’s implementation plans regarding key connectivity programs and their commitment to free speech.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, a coalition of organizations noted widespread concerns about the accuracy of the FCC’s broadband maps and called the FCC’s attention to newly released information from the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) that questions thousands of locations where significant Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) funding is set to be awarded to subsidize areas that are served today. CCA found that subsidie

On May 5, 2021, Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel responded to various Members of Congress regarding the FCC's efforts to make the broadband deployment data it collects more accurate, particularly after the passage of the Broadband DATA Act. She wrote, "I am pleased to report that we have made significant progress in just a few months, including the efforts highlighted below.