MassLive.com

I’m leading 45 of my colleagues in the Senate to fight for at least $4 billion to be delivered through the E-Rate program so students receive the Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and internet connected devices they need to learn at home. Excluding this critical aid from a new coronavirus relief package—as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Republican lawmakers recently did—will exacerbate already substantial inequities for decades. Sixteen million of our nation’s most vulnerable children will continue to suffer. They will continue to fall behind.

The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a bill that would require internet service providers to provide more transparency related to net neutrality and consumer privacy.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) continued to rail against the Federal Communications Commission's December decision to undo Obama-era net neutrality protections, arguing that the ruling could especially hurt Americans living in rural communities who face fewer choices when it comes to high-speed internet providers. Sen Markey, who is leading a Senate effort to override the FCC's controversial rollback, joined Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and other net neutrality advocates in highlighting the challenges rural Americans could face if the internet does not remain "free and open."