[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2770-S2772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION RELATING TO ``ADDRESSING THE HOMEWORK GAP THROUGH THE E-RATE
PROGRAM''
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks). The clerk will report the joint
resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 7) providing for
congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal
Communications Commission relating to ``Addressing the
Homework Gap Through the E-Rate Program''.
[[Page S2771]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
(The remarks of Mrs. Britt pertaining to the introduction of S. 1630
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mrs. BRITT. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
S.J. Res. 7
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to speak against S.J. Res.
7.
This resolution would prevent millions of students, educators, and
families from getting online--literally from enjoying the vast benefits
and resources of the online world.
Today, students and educators are dependent on broadband to learn and
teach, to communicate with each other, to establish relationships and
communities. Digital education has allowed for more flexible learning
opportunities for all of us, whatever our ages, but most specifically,
for students doing their homework, doing lectures, engaging in
discussions, and so much more--all of it online. It is a different
world, and now S.J. Res. 7 threatens to cut off and constrict that
world.
The internet can be a tremendous educational resource, opening new
doors for curious students, and digital literacy skills are fundamental
to succeeding in this digital economy, but that economy also creates a
new system of haves and have-nots. In education, that divide is called
the homework gap. It is a fundamental question of equity and fairness
to close that gap. Studies have shown that without broadband at home,
people earn lower grades than their connected classmates--no secret as
to why. It is a resource that enables better learning and more
achievement. That learning loss sets them back in career prospects and
other opportunities. It sets them back for a lifetime, potentially. We
saw the impact of the homework gap during COVID, when students were
forced to take classes and exams from the parking lots of McDonald's.
Literally, some of us saw students in those so-called hotspots, away
from their homes, because it was the only way they could access their
homework.
Now, to combat that homework gap, Congress established a fund in 2021
for schools and libraries to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students and
educators. The program was an enormous success, ensuring nearly 18
million students at over 10,000 schools and libraries could get online.
In Connecticut, that Federal support, in addition to State funding, was
wildly successful to our closing the homework gap. We made sure that
every single student had access to a laptop and to high-speed
broadband. I am so proud of everyone in Connecticut who was responsible
for this program of combining Federal and State resources in the best
way; but, unfortunately, Federal funds ran out.
Rather than leave students behind, the Federal Communications
Commission issued a rule last summer that would allow schools to
continue providing Wi-Fi hotspots under its E-Rate program. The E-Rate
program exists to help schools and libraries provide affordable
internet access; so that was a natural step for the FCC last summer. In
Connecticut, funds from the E-Rate hotspot rule are supporting hotspot
lending programs in Hamden, Norwalk, and at countless other libraries.
I have visited them. I have seen the faces of educators and students
excited about this enormous potential that brings together communities,
frankly, from all different political parties.
There is nothing partisan about this program, but, today, my
Republican colleagues are trying to cut off those students in Hamden,
Norwalk, and elsewhere in Connecticut and millions and millions of
their peers all around the country. This resolution would nullify the
FCC's rule that allows schools and libraries participating to join Wi-
Fi hotspots to students.
I have to ask, Really? Are schools and teachers crying out to repeal
this rule? Really? No, they are not. How does this proposal make any
sense for them or for families? for the parents? for the community? It
makes no sense.
This resolution would undo, in fact, all of the hard work in closing
the digital divide in States like Connecticut, where people have
devoted lives and careers to helping students close that homework gap
and do better. It will renew and exacerbate those inequalities of
access for rural and low-income communities. It will set back millions
of students in the name of--what? In the name of what? What is the
rationale? There is none. It is an embarrassment. It is a disaster. It
is a self-inflicted wound that we can avoid here on the floor of the
U.S. Senate.
I want to remind everyone here that once we vote in favor of this
rule, we can't go back, literally. You all know the rules. We can't go
back. The FCC may not adopt a similar rule in the future. This is an
irreversible, self-inflicted wound. So I urge my colleagues to reject
this misguided, wrong-headed resolution. It would be a disgrace if we
deprive those students and their families of this vast resource, of
literally life-changing access to a really necessary service that helps
them not just now but throughout their futures. We ought to expand
internet access, not constrict it. We ought to be enhancing it, not
cutting it off.
And this effort is in the name of what? It makes no sense except that
it exemplifies some of the cruelty and meanness and stupidity of the
Elon Musk approach to public service and public access and fairness in
our society.
I urge my colleagues to take the positive step--and it would be a
positive step--of continuing this enormously important program in the
name of educational future, tomorrow and in the days afterward, for our
students in Connecticut and around the country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Hawaii.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, this week is Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women Awareness Week, and it is a sobering reminder of both
the breathtaking scale of this tragedy that has plagued Native
communities for generations and how far we still have to go to bring
justice and healing to the victims and families affected by it.
This crisis is likely out of view for most Americans, but it stares
us in the face. Murder is the third leading cause of death for American
Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, which is 10 times the
national average--10 times the national average. American Indians and
Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely to experience violent
crimes, including rape and sexual assault, than any other group of
people in the United States. In Hawaii, 64 percent of human trafficking
survivors are Native Hawaiian.
Even so, we still don't know the true extent of the crisis because
for so long, the Federal Government failed to take it seriously. It was
more convenient to pretend as if it didn't exist than to dedicate
Federal resources to investigating the crimes and prosecuting those
responsible. As a result, in far too many instances, justice has not
been served and families have not been able to begin the process of
healing.
To experience the tragedy of a loved one gone or a neighbor suddenly
found dead is horrific in and of itself. But worse, these communities
often have to shoulder the burden of finding answers all by themselves
while they are grieving. For that to happen anywhere else or to anyone
else, we would be rightly outraged.
The fact that it is happening to Native Americans in cities like
Anchorage or Albuquerque, on remote reservations, and on Hawaiian
homelands should not change our outrage.
After decades of underinvestment, Congress finally took steps to
address this crisis when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act
in 2022. As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the
time, I was proud to work with Native leaders and advocates and
especially my good friend the vice chair at the time, Lisa Murkowski,
to restore Tribal jurisdiction for certain violent crimes and increase
Federal resources to keep Native families safe.
No one bill or action is going to remedy generations of neglect and
injustice, but it was an important step forward, along with other laws,
in turning the tide on this shameful and longstanding problem.
There remains a lot of work to be done to ensure that Native people
feel safe in their homes and in their communities. And it is a priority
that we continue to advance on the Indian Affairs Committee with the
chairman,
[[Page S2772]]
Lisa Murkowski, and many others. But today we remember the many victims
lost to this devastating epidemic of violence and recommit ourselves to
helping to find justice and healing for all of those affected.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
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