Editorial

Who would have expected that broadband spectrum would create an enormous logjam in Congress? Well, it has. But at long last Republicans have struck a deal to auction more government spectrum as part of the tax bill, which may be the closest thing there is to a free government lunch. The 2023 expiration of the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to sell government spectrum licenses has slowed plans to build out broadband networks and put existing airwaves to more productive use.

In an astonishing turn of events, a former Republican Federal Communications Commission commissioner slammed fellow Republican and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for making a “dangerous mistake” in threatening to take away EchoStar’s spectrum licenses. “The FCC threatens such severe sanctions that they put EchoStar’s financial viability in question and threaten to kill the company,” newly ex-FCC commissioner Nathan Simington wrote in an opinion piece.

We spend a lot of time talking about the future—of AI, of the nation’s economic competitiveness, of closing the digital divide. But too often, we’re forced to try and build that future on a foundation of regulations designed for a different world.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Brendan Carr, recently launched his own proceeding he calls “IN RE: DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.” Carr says he’s following Trump’s orders to deregulate the telecommunications industry to spur economic prosperity.

Congress is supposed to write the laws, but these days it often prefers to delegate to the executive branch, and then cheer or boo the results. Twice amid the New Deal, but not since, the Supreme Court struck down statutes as abdications of Congress’s lawmaking power. Yet the Court has another chance in the case that the Justices will consider Wednesday, FCC v. Consumers’ Research.

When Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr issued his big deregulation announcement, I have to admit I chortled a little bit at my desk. The irony of the announcement just tickled my funny bone. At a certain point, there’s nothing else to do but laugh.

It looks like Elon Musk’s Starlink service is going to get a big boost from the U.S. government. States will be able to award more Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds to satellite-internet providers like Starlink, as well as to more fixed wireless access (FWA) providers, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables. Personally, I think it will be a shame to squander this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach as many homes as possible with fiber via the $42.5 billion in BEAD funds.

A year ago today, Members of Congress introduced the bicameral, bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. The legislation would have provided $7 billion for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which helped millions of low-income Americans access high-speed internet. The House bill, introduced by Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), eventually gained 232 cosponsors, which is enough to pass. The Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), gained 32 cosponsors, including Vice-President-elect J.D. Vance (R-OH), and advanced out of committee.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Federal Communication Commission’s attempt to reinstate net neutrality. The decision puts perhaps the final nail in the coffin for open internet regulation.

In the digital age, we find ourselves increasingly divided, not just by our beliefs and values, but by the very technologies designed to connect us. The sophisticated algorithms that power our social media feeds have created what experts describe as information bubbles, fundamentally changing how we consume and process information about the world around us. The challenge before us is not merely technological but deeply human.