Letter

AARP urged Congress to support critical funding, included in the President’s domestic supplemental request, for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Affordable high-speed internet service is especially important for older Americans, many on fixed incomes, who have too often been left behind. The ACP, created by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, has helped more than 21 million households—including 9.3 million age 50 and older—get and stay online.

We, the undersigned advocates for responsible government, write to express our concern with the Biden Administration’s blatant disregard for Congressional intent in its attempts to impose price controls on broadband Internet access service. These attempts exhibit a pattern of behavior whereby Administration officials say one thing while doing the opposite. In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Congress spoke its bipartisan will: there shall be no rate regulation of broadband.

Twenty senators penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to improve access to local media on streaming platforms. Current law and FCC rules state that traditional cable and satellite networks must work directly with a local television station before broadcasting local news, sports, and other programming. However, linear streaming services over the internet are not required to negotiate directly with local television stations.

Over the coming weeks, the Administration looks forward to continued engagement with members of both parties to reach a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement to fund the Government and invest in critical national priorities. As part of that process, the Congress has an opportunity and obligation to advance our national security by addressing critical needs that should earn bipartisan support. I am writing to provide you with the President’s request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 emergency supplemental funding for these key national security priorities.

We write to urge you to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP); which provides over 21 million working families with financial assistance for broadband access; to help bridge the digital divide so they can continue to afford the broadband services they need for work, school, health care, and more. Should ACP funding not be extended, millions of Americans could be at risk of losing access to broadband. We would take significant steps backward in the progress we’ve already made to connect more Americans to the internet through additional federal broadband investments.

We write today to ask the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide guidance on alternatives to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program’s requirement that all applicants for program funding obtain an irrevocable letter of credit of 25% of the award, in addition to the 25% company match requirement. We believe that the letter of credit requirement in its current state will force many ISPs out of the program.

We write to express our disappointment and opposition to your announcement that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote to reclassify fixed and mobile broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Not only is this bad public policy, but it is also unlawful. Reclassification and the associated heavy-handed regulations that accompany this action continues to be a solution in search of a problem. We seek the following information by October 31, 2023:

While this is not the first time the Federal Communications Commission has pursued Title II regulation purportedly to address net neutrality, it is the first time the FCC has reached beyond the no blocking, degrading, or prioritizing principles to which broadband providers already adhere. The FCC is veering into the complex realm of cybersecurity and national security via top-down regulation rather than collaborative partnership, a choice many experts view with skepticism.

In 2021, Congress provided $65 billion to close the digital divide. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is responsible for administering most of this money, including the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which will provide states grant money to award providers to deploy broadband networks in unserved and underserved areas. We are concerned about state plans that propose to use funds in ways that will not provide universal connectivity or that are contrary to law.

On October 10, 2023, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel provided Congress with an update on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.