Groups Seek $5B for Device Vouchers Via Reconciliation
Public Knowledge and 121 other groups urged the Senate Commerce Committee Friday to include a voucher program in the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package aimed at subsidizing computers and other devices so low-income families can access broadband. Commerce…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Democrats in August eyed up to $10 billion for internet-enabled devices in reconciliation (see 2109020072). Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Rep. Donald McEachin, D-Va., filed the Device Access for Every American Act, which proposes $5 billion for device vouchers. It’s “difficult or impossible” for people to apply for jobs, complete schoolwork or fill out government forms “with just a mobile device or no device,” the groups said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. “Even if a household lacks home internet, computers and tablets enable consumers to leverage private and public Wi-Fi networks across their communities.”