US Senate

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Jon Tester (D-MT) urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to take action to ensure that students have access to internet so that they can continue learning while schools are closed and to create a consumer-friendly web portal with additional school resources in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ) led a group of colleagues in sending separate letters to the Trump Administration and the tech company Google raising concerns over privacy and cybersecurity vulnerabilities involving a third-party coronavirus (COVID-19) testing website announced recently by President Donald Trump and coronavirus response coordinator Dr.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) led thirteen of their colleagues in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily allow schools to utilize E-Rate program funding to provide Wi-Fi hotspots or devices with Wi-Fi capability to students who lack internet access at home. This action would help ensure that all students can remotely continue their education during the current public health emergency.

Sen Mark Warner (D-VA) led 17 of his colleagues in sending a letter to the CEOs of eight major internet service providers (ISPs) calling on the companies to take steps to accommodate the unprecedented reliance we will likely see on telepresence services, including telework, online education, telehealth, and remote support services. In the letter, sent to the CEOS of AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, the Sens call on companies to suspend restrictions and fees that could limit telepresence options.

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced the Consumer Data Privacy and Security Act to strengthen the laws that govern consumers’ personal data and create clear standards and regulations for American businesses that collect, process and use consumers’ personally identifiable data. The Consumer Data Privacy and Security Act would:

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced new legislation to deter anticompetitive abuses that distort the competitive process and harm consumers, innovation, and new business formation. The Anticompetitive Exclusionary Conduct Prevention Act prohibits anticompetitive exclusionary conduct that risks harm to the competitive process.

Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the introduction of the Homework Gap Trust Fund Act, legislation to eliminate the homework gap and ensure children have access to the internet at home. According to the Senate Joint Economic Committee, as many as 12 million students do not have access to the internet at home. Data also suggests that while 70 percent of teachers assign homework that requires internet access, almost 20 percent of students don’t have home internet access to complete it.