Senate votes to repeal rule allowing Wi-Fi hotspot loans
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By
Chris Teale
Senators passed a resolution overturning an FCC rule that allows schools and libraries to use E-Rate funds to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots. Opponents said the effort would only widen the digital divide.
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to repeal a Federal Communications Commission rule that allows schools and libraries to use federal funds to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots to students and educators.
Senators voted 50-38 on a joint disapproval resolution that would bar public schools and libraries that participate in the FCC’s E-Rate program from buying Wi-Fi hotspots for use away from their premises. E-Rate provides discounts to help schools and libraries buy affordable devices and internet access.
The FCC voted last year to approve the rule, with supporters arguing at the time that it was a “next step towards modernizing” the E-Rate program and reflecting the importance of internet access for education. Then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement at the time that the FCC could make this move legally, as the law gave it flexibility to define the nature of universal service.
“We can help close the digital divide, keep our communities connected, and support the millions of students who fall into the Homework Gap with this updated approach to E-Rate,” Rosenworcel said.
But Republicans moved quickly to repeal the rule. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced the disapproval resolution in January alongside 13 of his committee colleagues. Calling it FCC “overreach” under former President Joe Biden, Cruz said students who use the hotspots could be exposed to inappropriate content and that there was also is a risk of conservative viewpoints being censored while using the unmonitored devices.
Cruz also said the order could place more strain on the under-threat Universal Service Fund and cost taxpayers more, especially as the FCC does not means-test whether a child has broadband at home.
“Every parent of a young child or teenager either worries about, or knows first-hand, the real dangers of the internet,” Cruz said in a statement at the time. “The government shouldn’t be complicit in harming students or impeding parents’ ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content.”
Supporters of E-Rate allowing for these hotspots said it would help close the digital divide and allow students who lack home internet access to keep up with their peers. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who was the House author of the E-Rate program as part of the 1996 Communications Act, said in a statement that repeal of this rule would be a “cruel and shortsighted decision.”
“We're pulling the plug on progress in our country, we are abandoning millions of students who lack the internet access needed to complete their homework, to attend class, to reach their full potential,” Markey said during a debate on the Senate floor this week ahead of the vote. “This repeal will widen educational disparities in our country. It will deepen the digital divide, and it will slam shut the doors of opportunity for millions of children in our country.”
Others worried about the effect repeal would have on rural parts of the country. U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, warned of the impact on his state and its efforts to get students connected to the internet.
“Republicans just voted to make it harder for rural students to learn. Installing Wi-Fi hotspots on school buses can be transformative for kids with long commutes through rural states like Vermont. The ‘Wi-Fi on Wheels’ program saw early success in Vermont,” Welch said in a statement. “This unnecessary Republican rollback will only make it harder for our kids to succeed in the digital, 21st-century classroom, and it should have been voted down.”
Industry leaders, elected officials and advocacy groups pointed to recent research from the National Urban League that found that nearly 17 million students lack reliable home internet, and that students of color are the most likely to be affected. Some also pointed to the strong demand for E-Rate for hotspot funding, which has continued even since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It's about ensuring that every child has access to the internet through a Wi-Fi hotspot if they need it, if the school or the library says we’ve got to help them at home, they don't have it, because that kid will fall behind the kids who have it, and it won't have anything to do with their ability, it won't have anything to do with their desire to be a full participant in this great American experiment,” Markey said on the Senate floor.
The resolution must also pass the House, where companion legislation is pending, and be signed by President Donald Trump before it can take effect.