Roll Call

The debate over reopening schools amid the ongoing pandemic is spilling into negotiations over billions of dollars in new money to help students who lack home internet access. As Democrats in Congress push forward with a plan to provide $7.6 billion for a program that provides discounted laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots to schools and libraries, Republicans are questioning whether the funding is necessary when President Joe Biden has said he wants to reopen a majority of public schools in the coming months.

Ever since Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) was first elected to the House in 2006, he has sought to ensure that Iowans and other rural Americans can access the internet. But Rep Loebsack, who is set to retire at the end of the 116th Congress, remains frustrated that the federal government still lacks accurate data showing where Americans can get a signal — and where they can’t. How to best go about correcting federal broadband maps is disputed.

[Commentary] The Constitution’s Commerce Clause provides Congress with the power to regulate interstate commerce. Given that the internet permits consumers and businesses to connect to others in different states (as well as countries), broadband services are inherently interstate services and must therefore be protected from state and local interference.

Current House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) is hardly a household name. But the bespectacled Oregonian may have more to do with helping his party maintain its grip on Washington than most Republican heavyweights.

As chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the past two cycles, Rep Walden helped Republicans win and preserve a historic majority. He’s spent 281 nights on the road and logged the mileage equivalent of 10 trips around the world, visiting districts across the country and raising nearly $8 million for the committee since becoming Chairman in 2012. And now, with election night behind him, the nine-term member, who grew up on an 80-acre cherry orchard, is ready for his next move. He’s vying against a member with more seniority for the gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “You’ve got to take care of your NRCC chairman,” said former Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, himself a former chairman of the group who went on to beat several members with more seniority to take the helm of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Rewarding successful chairmen is important, Davis said, because it sends a message to members to pay their dues and support their team.