Upcoming event
Commerce Secretary Raimondo to testify before the Senate on broadband infrastructure funding implementation
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will testify February 1 before Senate appropriators about how to implement the $48 billion in broadband dollars that the infrastructure law slated for her department. The session will take place before the panel’s Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee, which Sen Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) chairs. Shaheen was one of the lead negotiators who put together the law’s $65 billion for broadband, in tandem with Raimondo and Sen Susan Collins (R-ME), who also sits on this subcommittee.
At this meeting, the Disability Advisory Committee is expected to receive and consider reports and recommendations from its working groups. The Disability Advisory Committee may also receive briefings from FCC staff on issues of interest to the committee and may discuss topics of interest to the committee, including, but not limited to, matters concerning communications transitions, telecommunications relay services, emergency access, and video programming accessibility.
How technology creates new challenges and opportunities for rural economic development leaders
Economic development is often centered on ensuring that people have access to a livelihood and a local system of support that makes economic prosperity possible. As the role of technology in society and the economy expands, strategies around economic development also need to evolve to make this prosperity possible — especially in communities across rural America.
RUS’s Reconnect Program was the first out of the gate to increase “build to” broadband speeds from 25/3 to 100/100Mbps. Join us for a fireside chat with the leader of USDA Rural Utilities Service as the Honorable Chris McLean provides an update on the progress and impact of the RUS Reconnect Broadband Program. Mr. McLean also serves as Assistant Administrator for RUS’ Electric program, presiding over a $48 billion loan portfolio. In recent years, the RUS annual lending budget for new electric infrastructure loans has exceeded $5 billion and much of this is for fiber.
A webinar for Tribes and Tribal entities interesting in applying for the ReConnect Program. Registration is free. The webinar will provide an overview of the ReConnect Program, highlight key considerations for tribal applicants, and allow ample time for questions and open discussion.
The inaugural Mercatus Center Antitrust Conference will bring together leaders from the antitrust community to discuss the state of antitrust enforcement policy, here and abroad, during the first year of the Biden Administration. The Conference will feature presentations by former and current leaders of the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division, who will put into perspective the legal and economic policy ramifications of major enforcement, legislative, and policy initiatives in the antitrust space during 2021.
Middle Eastern regimes are aggressive users of social media. They exploit these platforms against their enemies and rivals targeting dissidents, spreading disinformation, and otherwise trying to embarrass and weaken one another. They are aggressive in their efforts to undermine and punish critics at home as well. What are the implications of these tactics? How might U.S. technology companies counter, or at least reduce, these dangers?
A number of states, including California, Virginia, and Colorado, have recently passed data-protection laws that will impact businesses across the United States. In the absence of congressional action, many more states are likely to follow suit in the coming years, creating a patchwork of competing and potentially contradictory data-protection regulations that will confuse consumers, inflict high compliance costs on organizations, and impose unnecessary constraints on the digital economy.