Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling on Chairman Ajit Pai to support the E-Rate program. The E-Rate program, a part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, provides schools and libraries funding for internet access. Before passage of the law that created the E-Rate program barely 14 percent of classrooms had access to the internet, while today nearly all schools around the country are connected.

“The E-Rate ensures that students from working-class and rural neighborhoods can connect to and be afforded all of the opportunities given to students from more affluent communities,” write Sens Markey and Sullivan. “With technology expanding into nearly every facet of our lives, we need to ensure all Americans – whether urban or rural, rich or poor – remain connected and competitive in this global economy by continuing to support this essential program that millions of kids rely on across the nation.”

Sens Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) led a group of twelve Senators in urging the Federal Communications Commission to protect the E-Rate Program. They wrote, "E-Rate helps schools and libraries in every state by supporting access to modern communications and the Internet. Such access is critical if we are a country that is serious about preparing and educating our children for the digital age. The simple truth is that E-Rate has been nothing but extremely successful in helping schools and libraries in all 50 states have access to vital funding that ensures that kids in schools and libraries have high-speed Internet access and wireless connectivity. Your actions threaten to roll back progress made in all of these states and disrupt schools and libraries’ carefully planned multi-year budgets. Accordingly, we call on you to guarantee that this treasured program will not be undermined in any way under your watch.”

Sens Tom Udall (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Al Franken (D-MN), Jeffery Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bob Casey (D-PN) signed the letter.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) released the following statement about efforts to undo the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband privacy rules by utilizing the Congressional Review Act: "Big broadband companies want to mine and sell consumers’ most sensitive personal information without any consent. Overturning broadband privacy protections is nothing more than Big Broadband’s way of pumping up its profits and undermining consumer rights. Without the FCC’s broadband privacy rule, broadband providers will be able to sell dossiers of the personal and professional lives of their subscribers to the highest bidder without their consent. I will oppose any efforts to roll back important broadband privacy rules either by Congress or at the FCC.”