Chairman Pai’s Response to Sen Daines Regarding the E-Rate Program

On July 10, 2019, Sen Steve Daines (R-MT) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai saying he was troubled by reports of "duplicative federal investment from the Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries (E-rate) that has led to wasteful overbuilding of broadband infrastructure." On Oct 15, Chairman Pai responded, saying the FCC is reviewing the record on a petition for a rulemaking to consider amending rules relating to the E-rate program competitive bidding requirements. He also said the FCC is seeking to create a Digital Opportunity Data Collection to generate more granular and more accurate broadband maps.