House Commerce OKs COVID-19 E-rate Funding Amid GOP Opposition
The House Commerce Committee voted 31-24 Friday to advance language in its part of the coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation measure that would allocate $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning funding. (Also see our news bulletin). Committee Republicans ultimately didn't seek votes on most of their proposed amendments dealing with E-rate and other telecom issues. Republicans criticized Democrats for pushing forward with a markup of the overall bill without bipartisan negotiations (see 2102110072).
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The measure would direct the FCC to set up rules within 60 days to disburse funds from the proposed Emergency Connectivity Fund being set up to handle the $7.6 billion. A revised version would allocate $1 million for the FCC inspector general to do oversight of the money. The section would also allocate $50 million to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which would in part be used to monitor e-commerce websites selling pandemic-related and other dangerous consumer products and coordinate “with retail and resale websites to improve identification and elimination of listings of such products.”
“We can all agree that remote learning is not ideal, but it has been and will continue to be necessary for students around the country as schools work to take the necessary steps to safely return to in-person learning,” said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “I’m glad to see that we are finally putting the necessary resources into addressing” the “homework gap” that has “gotten so much worse” amid the pandemic.
Other House Commerce Democrats also hailed the funding, with many noting the homework gap’s disproportionate effect on people of color. “Millions of children became unable to attend class at all” since the start of widespread remote learning because they didn’t have broadband access, said Rep. Anna Eshoo of California. “This is shameful, and we have to do everything we can to rectify this injustice.” The money is “desperately needed” to “allow all students to fully and safely participate” in remote learning, said Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York.
Republicans uniformly opposed the E-rate funding proposal. Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina noted GOP concerns from the debate's outset Friday. “I believe we truly could get a bipartisan piece of legislation” through Congress that comprehensively addresses rural broadband and other connectivity issues, but “I’m afraid we’re not going to get the bipartisanship necessary with this bill.” He opposed “having a big spending bill rammed through” that addresses broadband without a fulsome hearing on those issues.
House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., countered that House Democrats intend to more fully explore broadband issues as part of work on a coming infrastructure spending package, seen as a top priority for President Joe Biden’s administration (see 2101150001). The final measure may or may not ultimately mirror the Moving Forward Act, which the House passed last year, but Democrats “will definitely address rural broadband in that context,” Pallone said. The Moving Forward Act proposed $100 billion for broadband, an amount House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., intends to seek again (see 2102100061). House Communications plans a Wednesday hearing on improving connectivity during the pandemic.
House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, attempted to redirect the money to an NTIA pilot to fund “covered partnerships” for broadband projects established in December via the FY 2021 appropriations and pandemic aid package (see 2012220061). House Commerce voted down Latta’s proposed amendment 31-25.
The correct “approach” to improving students’ broadband access is to redirect funds to a “program specifically designed to bring broadband to rural America,” Latta said. Republicans “want to close the homework gap” but oppose giving more money to E-rate because “we must take a fresh look” at the program. Latta cited a letter he and other committee GOP leaders sent to the OMB this month seeking information about how much of the money Congress already appropriated for pandemic relief has been spent.
Doyle and other Democrats strongly opposed the amendment. “We just can’t wait any longer” to provide emergency E-rate funding since the FCC under former Chairman Ajit Pai refused to interpret statute to allow program funds to be used for remote learning, Doyle said. “This package may not even cover the entire” amount of additional E-rate money needed to fully fund remote learning through the entire duration of the pandemic, he said.
House Commerce also voted 30-24 against an amendment from Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., seeking to allow the E-rate funding to be used only to “support connectivity to schools and libraries” that have fully opened. Eshoo called Walberg’s proposal “dangerous,” and other Democrats opposed it. Republicans proposed but didn't seek votes on amendments Friday night on net neutrality, municipal broadband and other telecom issues.