US Senate

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, 14 U.S. senators express extreme concern will plans to roll back network neutrality rules.

Net neutrality is particularly important to women, as it affords women-owned businesses and startups an even playing field when competing with more established brands and content. Between 2007 and 2016, while the total number of firms increased by 9 percent, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45 percent - meaning that over this period the number of women-owned firms grew at a rate fully five times the national average.1 This growth mirrors the emergence of the Internet as a platform for economic growth. The online sales platform, Etsy, is another example of how women thrive under a free and open Internet. Under the current net neutrality regime, Etsy has empowered sellers in every state across the country, 87 percent of whom are women. An open Internet is also vital to providing a platform for elevating voices that are underrepresented or marginalized in traditional media, an experience many women in media know well. When turned away by traditional media outlets, many female creators have found a home and an audience for their stories on the open Internet. The vast array of online media platforms enabled by net neutrality give creators permission-less access to viewers, providing autonomy for women of every color and creed to tell rich, compelling stories in their own voices. In addition, an open Internet has allowed women to organize and create positive change in their communities.

US Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Edward Markey (D-MA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Angus King (I-ME), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Community Broadband Act to preserve and protect the rights of cities and localities to build municipal broadband networks. Municipal broadband can often provide an affordable, reliable option for rural and low-income communities that face persistent barriers to high-speed internet access.

“Internet access is an economic necessity in today's economy, but too many communities lack reliable access,” Senator Booker said. “I saw this problem first-hand as mayor of Newark. In places where reliable, high-speed internet access is lacking, some municipalities have bridged the gap by investing in and offering broadband internet to their residents. But barriers to municipal broadband networks remain. Our bill will help remove these barriers by giving cities the flexibility they need to meet the needs of their residents.” Specifically, the Community Broadband Act will amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to ban any state, local, or tribal statute or regulation that prohibits cities from providing high-speed internet.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling on Chairman Ajit Pai to support the E-Rate program. The E-Rate program, a part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, provides schools and libraries funding for internet access. Before passage of the law that created the E-Rate program barely 14 percent of classrooms had access to the internet, while today nearly all schools around the country are connected.

“The E-Rate ensures that students from working-class and rural neighborhoods can connect to and be afforded all of the opportunities given to students from more affluent communities,” write Sens Markey and Sullivan. “With technology expanding into nearly every facet of our lives, we need to ensure all Americans – whether urban or rural, rich or poor – remain connected and competitive in this global economy by continuing to support this essential program that millions of kids rely on across the nation.”

Sens Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chairs of the Senate Broadband Caucus, have introduced bipartisan legislation to measure the economic impact of broadband on the US economy. While the federal government measures the economic impact of many industries, it does not produce current, reliable statistics on the economic impact of broadband on the US economy. Accurate, reliable data on the economic impact of broadband is a valuable tool for policymakers and business leaders and many research institutions, state broadband offices, and trade associations have highlighted the need for this data.

The Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act would require the Bureau of Economic Analysis to conduct a study of the effects of broadband deployment and adoption on the US economy. In conducting this analysis, the Secretary will consider job creation, business headcount, online commerce, income, education and distance learning, telehealth, telework, agriculture, population growth, population density, broadband speed, and geography. The Secretary may consult representatives of business, including rural and urban internet service providers and telecommunications infrastructure providers; state, local, and Tribal government agencies; and consumer and community organizations.

Sens Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) led a group of twelve Senators in urging the Federal Communications Commission to protect the E-Rate Program. They wrote, "E-Rate helps schools and libraries in every state by supporting access to modern communications and the Internet. Such access is critical if we are a country that is serious about preparing and educating our children for the digital age. The simple truth is that E-Rate has been nothing but extremely successful in helping schools and libraries in all 50 states have access to vital funding that ensures that kids in schools and libraries have high-speed Internet access and wireless connectivity. Your actions threaten to roll back progress made in all of these states and disrupt schools and libraries’ carefully planned multi-year budgets. Accordingly, we call on you to guarantee that this treasured program will not be undermined in any way under your watch.”

Sens Tom Udall (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Al Franken (D-MN), Jeffery Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bob Casey (D-PN) signed the letter.

Sen Angus King (I-ME) led five of his colleagues, including Sen Susan Collins (R-ME), in sending a bipartisan letter calling on the Federal Communications Commission to work to avoid cuts or spending reductions to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program, which helps deliver vital health care services and telemedicine to people who live in rural areas by providing funding for broadband. The letter specifically calls on the FCC to act on the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition’s recently filed letter, which recommends funding mechanisms that would avoid service disruptions to patients and health clinics in rural areas.

“We ask you to address the future of the RHC as soon as possible. The Commission can and should take steps to avoid flash cuts or sudden funding reductions for health care providers that use this vital program. […] Because previously committed funds have already been collected, re-allocation of these funds will not require increased universal service fund collections. The Commission could take such action immediately on an interim basis to ensure that health care providers and consortia do not face funding reductions, thereby giving the Commission time to work on strengthening the future of the RHC program," the letter read.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) released the following statement about efforts to undo the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband privacy rules by utilizing the Congressional Review Act: "Big broadband companies want to mine and sell consumers’ most sensitive personal information without any consent. Overturning broadband privacy protections is nothing more than Big Broadband’s way of pumping up its profits and undermining consumer rights. Without the FCC’s broadband privacy rule, broadband providers will be able to sell dossiers of the personal and professional lives of their subscribers to the highest bidder without their consent. I will oppose any efforts to roll back important broadband privacy rules either by Congress or at the FCC.”

Sens Angus King (I-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), John Boozman (R-AR), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the co-chairs of the Senate Broadband Caucus, led 48 senators in urging President Donald Trump to include broadband in any infrastructure initiative he puts forward.

They wrote, "As you work with Congress to address the infrastructure needs of our country, we urge you to prioritize policies as part of any infrastructure initiative that will promote deployment of high-speed, reliable broadband for all Americans. Expanding access to broadband, both rural and urban, is the infrastructure challenge of our generation and we cannot afford to wait to make progress on this important goal...A broad agenda to promote broadband access will empower Americans living in every community – from urban city centers to rural towns – with economic opportunities that will jumpstart growth in jobs and wages....This effort should include bringing broadband connections to locations where economic conditions or geography have made deployment difficult and improving the quality and affordability of existing broadband connections."

Sen Al Franken (D-MN) put the pressure on new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to join the fight to preserve network neutrality, the long-standing principle that the internet is and must remain an open and level playing field for every American consumer and business.

Sen Franken wrote, "As Chairman, you have an obligation to protect Americans' access to diverse information sources and to ensure that the internet remains a tool for American innovation, economic growth, and public discourse. I have no doubt that you recognize the significance of your new role, but your stated opposition to strong net neutrality rules raises serious concerns about your commitment to honoring the First Amendment. Allowing giant corporations to pick and choose the content available to everyday Americans would threaten the basic principles of our democracy. I urge you to protect freedom of speech by maintaining and enforcing the Open Internet Order."

Sen Tom Udall (D-NM) called on the Federal Communications Commission to do more to ensure all students in New Mexico and across the country have equal access to the Internet for educational and economic opportunity. Specifically, Sen Udall wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC should extend the successful E-rate program, which pays for Internet access in schools, and provide Wi-Fi on school buses so students can have more time to do their homework.

While the E-Rate program has helped ensure schools are equipped with broadband Internet, a third of New Mexico households - and homes across the country - still lack access, either because families can't afford it or because it simply isn't available. But with seven in 10 teachers nationwide assigning homework that requires Internet access, students without access at home are now at an unfair disadvantage to their peers. "Broadband should help create educational opportunities for these children, not a new barrier to their success at school," Sen Udall wrote to Chairman Wheeler.