Killing Hot Spots for Students

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says he hopes to bring a resolution to the Senate to repeal the funding of Internet hot spots from the E-Rate Program, which is part of the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund. The original support for funding hot spots came from a July 2024 vote of the FCC under then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to allow the E-Rate program to pay for hot spots. For those not familiar with E-Rate, the program is used to subsidize broadband connections in schools that qualify by having a high percentage of students participating in the federal school lunch program. Like other bills and initiatives currently aimed at the Universal Service Fund, this effort might soon be moot since there is a pending case at the Supreme Court, with oral arguments scheduled on March 26, that asks if the USF is constitutional. The case asks if the FCC has the authority to establish the USF and if it can assign the administration of the fund to USAC. If the Court rules that the USF is unconstitutional, then the fund will likely go immediately dead unless Congress steps in to immediately save it.