Keeping Connected Amid Crisis

A call to Congress to allocate up to $100 billion in subsidies, rebates and tax relief targeted toward broadband that would benefit people, not just companies. The money would fund a mix of emergency aid to get and keep people connected during the coming weeks of quarantine and increased reliance on internet access, along with broadband-affordability support for the coming months and years as the economy begins to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The plan also calls for funding to help finish the job on broadband deployment in rural and unserved areas, both to stimulate the economy in these regions and to build infrastructure to prepare for future crises. Beyond laying out congressional spending and Federal Communications Commission actions, the plan commends steps some internet service providers have already taken and calls on other carriers to emulate these measures. The proposal asks those that have offered discounts and breaks to follow through on them without any strings attached. And the report notes that the FCC wouldn’t have to rely solely on companies’ pledges, promises and voluntary efforts if the agency hadn’t surrendered the authority to regulate essential broadband internet-access services. Proposals include:

• Emergency Federal funding for the FCC’s Lifeline Program
• Emergency Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Waivers for Existing Form 477 Filers
• Public Awareness Campaign Promoting Lifeline
• Promoting Easier Lifeline Sign-Ups Online, At Home, and Through Other Social Services
• Medium-Term Supply- and Demand-Side Stimulus to Help Get and Keep People Connected
• Lifeline Broadband Vouchers
• Congress Should Create and Fund a standalone “e-Rate@Home” Program
• Helping HotSpots
• Every Child Online Tax Deduction
• Learning@Home Child Care Tax Credit
• Matching Grants for States to Expand Existing Low-income Programs
• Broadband Deployment Fund
• “Cash for e-Clunkers”
• Congress Should Immediately Pre-empt all State Anti-Municipal Broadband Prohibitions