More Democrats Seek Broadband Funding in Next COVID-19 Bill

“We’re very proud of” the final HR-748 text, which Democrats “did jiu-jitsu on” to ensure it included some of the party’s legislative priorities, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a news conference. The House will likely “have a strong bipartisan vote” to pass HR-748 when the chamber considers it Friday. She's aiming to pass the measure by voice in a bid to avoid requiring House members return to the Capitol for an in-person roll-call vote.

HR-748 was about “emergency mitigation” to address the epidemic-caused economic crisis, while a potential fourth COVID-19 bill will be about how “we grow the economy” in the crisis’ wake, Pelosi told reporters. “There’s so many things we didn’t get” in HR-748 and previous COVID-19 measures “in the way that we need.” Pelosi’s counterproposal to HR-748, the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act, proposed $2 billion in emergency E-rate funding and $1 billion for the Lifeline program. It included language temporarily limiting the ability of ISPs and voice providers to alter service to customers or impose data caps during the outbreak (see 2003230066). Democratic lawmakers also added in the text of the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451).

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is less eager to seek a fourth bill. “I would not be quick to say you have to write something else,” he said at a news conference. “Let [HR-748] work” before considering further legislation. “We could work remotely when it comes to some ideas” while the House is recessed because of the pandemic, McCarthy said. “But, at the end of the day, Congress will be back” in session at the Capitol. He claimed Democrats are trying to use work on the stimulus bills “to restructure things to fit their own vision” and legislative priorities.

NARUC President Brandon Presley told us he’s “very disappointed” in how little money HR-748 included for broadband. The Democratic Mississippi public service commissioner hopes Congress will take the need for web service more seriously in the future because the infection has shown it's essential. Presley believes state commissioners should keep watch on telecom to protect consumers during the epidemic (see 2003260050).

“I hope that won’t be a one-time emphasis” by Congress but rather “the beginning of a statement that we’re going to finish building out broadband in America,” said NARUC Broadband Task Force Chairman Chris Nelson, a Republican on the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. “What’s there is there,” he said about the amount HR-748 allocated for RUS broadband programs. “We need to put it to good use and then figure out” whether there are “other opportunities to get some additional dollars.”

HR-748 “will not be the last relief package that our families, workers, and economy will need as this pandemic grows,” said Senate Commerce member Ed Markey, D-Mass. “I will continue to fight” during “future relief efforts.” The Senate-passed “package neglected to address funding for vital needs right now such as closing the homework gap and protecting low-income students, nor to protect emergency spectrum for our first responders,” he said.

It’s “outrageous that kids in America can’t access the internet or connected devices to learn from home, especially during” the epidemic, tweeted House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “I will continue to fight in Congress for $2 billion” in E-rate funding “to help connect students across the country.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the Senate for including $200 million in appropriations for the commission’s Connected Care in-home patient monitoring telehealth pilot. “Telemedicine has never been more important to our nation’s healthcare system,” which is “why I urged elected officials to provide funding for” Connected Care in HR-748, he said. The bill “would support this critical shift in healthcare delivery by giving the FCC the money and authority to quickly fund telehealth programs across the country." The FCC has already begun preparing for this bill to become law," Pai said.

America’s Public Television Stations lauded emergency CPB funding in HR-748. “While even $75 million only begins” to address public TV stations’ “unprecedented needs while private revenues are plummeting, we are grateful for the broad support for this emergency funding for public media among both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate,” said APTS CEO Patrick Butler. “We will do our best with the resources we have.”

Free Press believes the amount of CPB funding in HR-748 is "simply not big enough to meet the needs of this emergency,” said co-CEO Craig Aaron. “We should be moving immediately to double federal support for public media.” FP previously criticized lawmakers for not including more emergency broadband funding in the bill and made its own recommendations.

The Software & Information Industry Association wants Congress to “include the meetings and events sector as they develop an economic relief package for the hospitality industry,” said CEO Jeff Joseph. “Business-to-business conferences and events are a critical backbone of the U.S. economy” and “are seeing major revenue losses, are facing layoffs, and in some cases may be forced to close operations.” Joseph also wrote legislators.