In a letter to Congressional leadership, over 80 groups urged Congress to provide a low-income broadband benefit as part of the forthcoming Phase 4 COVID-19 package. The groups are seeking $2 to 3 billion per month for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency to support access to broadband that is adequate to meet the needs of multiple people sheltering-in-place while working and learning via video technology simultaneously. To ensure essential communications service, the proposal includes:

While COVID-19 has highlighted the deficiencies in broadband availability in the homes of our school-age kids around the country, the absence of a broadband connection for our older adults is equally concerning. Lack of internet access sets the stage for growing isolation and harm to our seniors across the country. Although broadband adoption has increased among those 65 and older in recent years, there is still a significant gap. A 2017 Pew Research revealed that over half of those 65+ have a broadband connection at home, and about 67 percent use the internet.

The entire Democratic Michigan delegation urged Congressional Leadership to prioritize and provide funding for essential broadband programs to ensure all Americans, especially those most in need, have access to high-speed internet in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Congress considers priorities in the next COVID-19 relief package, the Members of Congress urged the inclusion of robust funding for the following provisions/programs to ensure Americans across the country have access to high-speed internet:

Hopefully, when Congress gets done allocating several trillion dollars simply to keep the economy afloat, we will be able to have another discussion: What should we invest in so we don’t just burden young Americans with a mountain of new debt, but also arm them with the tools to grow out of it and still prosper in the 21st century? These could be the most important and precious dollars we spend, so we need to invest them wisely, as President Franklin D.

When it comes to the Internet, the COVID-19 crisis is teaching us that we’re so much better off than we could have been, but not as good as we need to be. COVID-19 is a stress test for many systems in the United States, most critically in our health, government, education, media, retail and financial services sectors. All of them are now depending more than ever on the Internet to serve their users. The current health crisis will likely peak some time this year, but our intensified reliance on digital technology will not.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drafted a strategy as part of White House efforts to reopen parts of the country.

It has been weeks since the coronavirus brought our lives to a halt, shutting down our schools, offices and gyms. Stuck at home, we have had nothing but time to reflect on the things that matter. Consumer technology — most of it, anyway — is low on the list. That’s right.

The European Union has embraced a heavy-handed regulatory scheme designed to allocate access to the existing network, while the US has emphasized private investment to expand network capacity. As the internet emerged and developed, the work of European regulators was guided by the legal system developed to govern traditional telephone service largely built with taxpayer funds. This approach presumed that significant parts of the phone network were likely to remain monopolies.

Rep Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) called on the Federal Communications Commission to do more to protect customers from abusive practices by their Internet service providers (ISPs). In response to requests from local families, Rep Brindisi sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, asking that the FCC extend consumer protections for the duration of the public health emergency and also bar ISPs from raising their prices while workers and students are ordered to remain at home.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is making calling and video visitation free for inmates after the coronavirus forced a halt to in-person visits, the agency said in a letter to Congress. “Effective April 9, 2020, telephone calls were made free for the inmate population,” Bureau Director Michael Carvajal wrote to Sen.