Upcoming policy issue

The Washington Post recently published an article detailing how NewsGuard, whose journalists rate the reliability of news sources, has become the target of incoming Trump administration regulators and far-right Republicans in Congress.

A year ago today, Members of Congress introduced the bicameral, bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. The legislation would have provided $7 billion for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which helped millions of low-income Americans access high-speed internet. The House bill, introduced by Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), eventually gained 232 cosponsors, which is enough to pass. The Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), gained 32 cosponsors, including Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance (R-OH), and advanced out of committee.

In its State Digital Equity Plan, the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) embraces digital equity to ensure that every person in New Mexico has equal opportunities to access education, health care, job prospects, government services, and information critical to personal growth and well-being.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for the agency to quickly adopt rules that will allow the FCC to proceed with a spectrum auction to fully fund the removal, replacement, and disposal of insecure Chinese-made Huawei and ZTE equipment and services from U.S. networks without further delay.  The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act provides essential funding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement (or “Rip and Replace”) Program by giving the FCC authority to auction AWS-3 spectrum licenses in its inventory.

Two Democratic members of the Federal Communications Commission believe Congress should step up and codify network neutrality rules as federal law after the Sixth Circuit shot down the FCC's latest version of the rules. Such a move would finally stop the pendulum swings of the on-again/off-again FCC rules on network neutrality.

As the 119th Congress convenes, the House's legislative and oversight agenda for all things broadband will likely start and live with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Here we look at changes in leadership in this key committee and how the priorities of these new leaders may impact broadband policy. Republicans tapped Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2) to chair the Commerce Committee. On December 20, Chairman Guthrie named Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC-09) to be Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for the 119th Congress.

The principal purpose of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is to deploy broadband service to all unserved and underserved locations. To achieve this goal, Eligible Entities (states) may fund a variety of technologies that satisfy the BEAD Program’s minimum technical requirements. The BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) establishes a clear hierarchy of technologies that states must apply when awarding subgrants for Unserved and Underserved Service Projects: (1) Priority Broadband Projects (end-to-end fiber); (2) other Reliable Broadband Service (RBS) projects;

President-elect Donald J. Trump and his allies have vowed to squash an online “censorship cartel” of social media firms that they say targets conservatives. Already, the president-elect’s newly chosen regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission have outlined plans to stop social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube from removing content the companies deem offensive — and punish advertisers that leave less restrictive platforms like X in protest of the lack of moderation. In Europe, social media companies face the opposite problem.

A Christmas Day social media brawl between President-elect Donald Trump’s backers in Silicon Valley and the MAGA base highlighted the looming battle facing the incoming White House and Congress over high-skilled immigration. Early conversations are already taking place on Capitol Hill, where Republican lawmakers are openly mulling new plans to boost numbers of high-tech immigrants as Elon Musk and other tech billionaires—including many who have named skilled immigration a priority—flex their expanding influence on Trump and the GOP.

In mid-November 2024, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr flew to Palm Beach (FL) to clinch his dream job. The telecommunications lawyer and longtime Federal Communications Commission official dropped by a reception at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and met the incoming president, who recognized Commissioner Carr and praised his work. Two days later, Trump named Carr to lead the agency.