GOP Leaders Urge Gomez to 'Reject' Proposal to Expand E-rate to Fund School Bus Wi-Fi, Hot Spots
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez to oppose Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s “Learning Without Limits” proposal to allow E-rate program money to pay for…
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Wi-Fi on school buses and for hot spots (see 2306260029). Both lawmakers declared their “strong opposition” to the plan in July (see 2307310063). “We ask that you reject this unlawful plan to vastly expand the E-Rate program,” they said in a letter to Gomez released Wednesday. “Instead, the FCC should work with Congress, not ignore the text of” Communications Act Section 254’s E-rate authorizing statute “to advance its policy goals.” Expanding “E-Rate support to off-campus connectivity” would “open the door to funding broadband buildout to homes, even in cases where the community is already served by an existing broadband provider,” the GOP leaders said: “This use of taxpayer dollars to compete with private businesses is inappropriate and inefficient, and could duplicate existing federal programs.” There “is no telling how much USF fees could increase to pay for this dramatic, unlawful expansion of E-Rate,” they said. “Unlike congressionally funded programs like [the affordable connectivity program] or [broadband, equity, access and deployment program], the FCC’s USF avoids the appropriations process, hides who contributes, and adds fees to the phone bills of American families.” Gomez’s office didn’t comment.