The Senate approved the $2.2 trillion stimulus package titled Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provides $150 billion to states and local government to respond to the pandemic and economic crisis caused by COVID-19. A breakdown of some of the key funding streams that are either directly related to technology or may incorporate technology as an allowable expense:

• Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT), and Broadband Program -- $25 Million: The DLT grant program supports rural communities’ access to telecommunications, audio and video equipment, as well as related advanced technologies for students, teachers and medical professionals.
• Telehealth -- $200 Million: For the Federal Communications Commission to support the efforts of health-care providers to address coronavirus by providing telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to enable the provision of telehealth services.
• Public Health Data Surveillance and Infrastructure Modernization -- $500 Million: Funding to invest in better COVID-19 tools and build state and local public health data infrastructure.
• Elementary and Secondary Education -- $13.5 Billion: Over $13 billion in formula funding directly to states, to help schools meet the immediate needs of K-12 districts to improve the use of education technology and support distance education.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting also received $75 million in emergency funds. 

The Federal Communications Commission took a number of actions to assist Rural Health Care Program participants, including extending the Rural Health Care Program application window until June 30, 2020, among other administrative deadlines. March 26’s actions are part of the FCC’s ongoing efforts to ensure that hospitals and health care providers have the resources they need to effectively respond to the coronavirus pandemic and keep Americans connected to critical services.

“The disruption to health care providers throughout the country as a result of this pandemic is indisputable and the FCC, alongside other federal agencies, is working to address these challenges head on,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “Telemedicine continues to play a significant role in combating the ongoing pandemic, especially in rural areas. Today’s changes will allow health care providers to focus their attention on their immediate task at hand—addressing the influx of patients associated with the COVID-19 outbreak and continuing critical care for existing patients, thereby helping to control the spread of this serious pandemic. With our actions today, our hospitals and health care providers can devote more of their attention on continuing to meet the needs of their communities.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools and workplaces to close all over the country, tens of millions of American children have started to attend classes online and tens of millions of American adults are now teleworking from home. This crisis has highlighted how many Americans lack high-speed wired broadband internet at home (approximately 141 million) and specifically how many school-age children are disconnected (as many as 12 million). This digital divide did not happen by accident. It is the result of years of scorched-earth deregulation and consolidation pushed by large cable and broadband companies and a government that, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, believes that somehow the so-called “free market” will take care of the unconnected. That is why, in this national emergency, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was forced to beg broadband providers to sign up for his “Keep America Connected Pledge.” The Communications Act of 1934 gives the FCC a great deal of flexibility to ensure that the public is protected during a national emergency. But when it comes to broadband internet access, this FCC is powerless.

If the COVID-19 crisis has taught us anything, it is that we must remain connected when we are forced to be physically distant. Right now, millions of Americans cannot get broadband internet access, which is the primary way they can stay connected to their schools, workplaces, families, and friends. This alone is cause for Congress, the FCC, and the American people to take a long, hard look at our broadband policies now and in the future. Getting through this national emergency and being prepared for the next one depends on it.

[Sohn is the Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate]

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us all of the importance of a free and open internet. Our broadband connections are more critical than ever, and we must pay special attention to protecting the access of the most vulnerable and those on the front lines of the coronavirus response. That’s why the Commission’s net neutrality remand proceeding is so important – because it asks the public to comment on how the agency’s decision affects Lifeline participants and public safety. Given these extraordinary times, I wish that we’d granted the full extension sought by the requesters. Nevertheless, I encourage all Americans who care about an open internet to make their voices heard.

The newly signed Broadband DATA Act calls for the Federal Communications Commission to develop a more detailed and accurate map that reflects more granular and accurate data about broadband markets. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has complained that his agency would need more time and money to abandon its current mapping method and adopt a new one that fits the requirements of the bill. “At this point, it is vital for Congress to provide the FCC as soon as possible with the appropriations necessary to implement the Act,” Chairman Pai said recently. “Right now, the FCC does not have the funding to carry out the Act, as we have warned for some time. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel isn’t sympathetic. “The FCC has sat on this for a long time,” she said. “The FCC needs to get to work and stop hemming and hawing about how we need more money or about how it’s impossible.” “Congress has tasked us to do a job, so let’s get to work,” she said.

Even if the FCC gets to work on creating new maps immediately, it’s going to take a while to comply with the law, said Dan Hays, who is the corporate strategy leader for US technology, media, and telecommunications at PwC. “[I]t may well take several years to see a comprehensive solution,” Hays said. “From here, the FCC will need to determine the data that will need to be gathered, the systems that will be used to collect and present it, and the procedures and rules for gathering, updating, and distributing the combined information.”

The Donald Trump re-election campaign told TV stations they could lose their operating licenses for airing an ad criticizing the president’s actions in the coronavirus crisis -- a challenge that may be more bluster than actual threat. President Donald Trump’s campaign, in a letter on March 25, told stations in five battleground states to stop showing the ad from Priorities USA, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Failure to remove the ad “could put your station’s license in jeopardy” before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said. “Your station has an obligation to cease and desist from airing it immediately to comply with FCC licensing requirements.”

A license revocation would not be likely under any scenario, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Eventually a license renewal could be challenged before the FCC, but “such a petition would get nowhere.”