US Senate

Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced new legislation to help deliver reliable internet to more rural Americans by returning dormant federal funding back to the state it was intended for. The Federal Communications Commission’s current funding structure favors large companies that reap billions in federal government contracts meant to provide high-speed internet access to rural communities.

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Senator Peter Welch’s (D-VT) amendment to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program with $7 billion, as requested in his bicameral, bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. The amendment was attached to the PLAN for Broadband Act, legislation to streamline federal broadband program to make it more accessible for underserved areas. The Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act’s original Senate cosponsors include Sens Welch (D-VT), JD Vance (R-OH), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Sherrod Brown (D-O

Sens John Thune (R-SD), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve federal agencies’ review and processing of broadband permits and allow service to be more quickly deployed to unserved communities.

Sens John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the bipartisan Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (VET AI) Act which directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to work with federal agencies and stakeholders across industry, academia, and civil society to develop detailed specifications, guidelines, and recommendations for third-party evaluators to work with AI companies to provide robust independent externa

US senators wrote to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging them to closely scrutinize T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular. Since T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020, just three carriers have dominated the national mobile wireless service market.

After a Supreme Court stacked with Trump-appointed justices overturned the 40-year-old Chevron deference doctrine, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Stop Corporate Capture Act (SCCA). The SCCA codifies the Chevron doctrine and strengthens the rulemaking process to block corporations from hijacking our government. The legislation would:

Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan and Department of Justice (DOJ) Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter to crack down on the massive consolidation of emerging generative artificial intelligence (AI) by tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.