Raise the E-rate Cap, Rockefeller tells the FCC

In October 2009, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski with concerns that the funds available for the E-Rate have not increased since the FCC initially capped them at $2.25 billion annually.

Chairman Rockefeller wrote: "I am concerned that more than a decade later the strength of this program has been reduced by the failure of the agency to adjust its rules to accommodate the impact of inflation. Taking into consideration growth in the consumer price index, the cap that was put in place in July 1997 has an equivalent value in August 2009 of $1.68 billion." The real dollar value of the E-rate dwindles, Sen Rockefeller wrote, as the broadband educational opportunities for students increase.

In mid-January, Chairman Genachowski, who helped implement Sen Rockefeller's legislative language in the 1990s, wrote Chairman Rockefeller saying that "updating the Universal Service Fund rules and policies must be one of our first steps in implementing the National Broadband Plan."