Groups beg Senate not to rip Wi-Fi hotspots from students, library patrons

Over 30 organizations have signed a letter urging US senators to vote against a resolution that would overturn a Federal Communications Commission decision to allow E-Rate funding to be used for Wi-Fi hotspots for students, school staff and library patrons. The resolution in question (S.J.Res.7) was introduced by Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) in January and has since amassed 16 Republican co-sponsors. The resolution specifically seeks to nullify an FCC order, approved in 2024 under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, allowing schools and libraries to apply for E-Rate funding to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots to students, school staff and library patrons. That order essentially sought to revive a version of the expired Emergency Connectivity Fund, passed in the 2021 American Rescue Plan, through which Congress allowed for subsidized Wi-Fi hotspot loaners until the fund expired last year.  However, instead of reviving the program, the Cruz resolution, if passed, would "prevent millions of students and library patrons across the country from obtaining internet access," according to the letter to the US Senate signed by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the Schools Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, the American Federation of Teachers, American Library Association  and Open Technology Institute at New America—among others.