The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has updated its BroadbandUSA website database of 57 federal broadband programs, spanning 14 federal agencies with billions of dollars for broadband grants, loans, and other resources. The site, created with the help of participating federal agencies, fulfills a goal set out in the Trump Administration’s American Broadband Initiative to make it easier for providers and stakeholders to find federal funding and permitting information. These federal programs provide funding for industry, state and local governments, schools, libraries, small businesses, and other community institutions that are interested in expanding broadband access. The funding includes direct grants, loans, indirect support, and discounts. Applicants can search for programs by agency, program purpose, and eligible recipients. A number of programs offer grants and loans for targeted populations and specific regions of the country. The inventory also includes well-known infrastructure efforts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Communications Commission. At the Commerce Department, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) provides grants through its Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Programs, which can be used to support broadband infrastructure projects, digital skills training, and smart cities development in the context of local or regionally driven comprehensive economic development strategies.

Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with 22 of his Senate colleagues, urged the Department of Treasury to increase its efforts to make Economic Impact Payments available to the most vulnerable populations—including those without access to the internet who cannot file a tax return electronically.  In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Durbin and the Senators highlighted that at least 21 million Americans are without high-speed internet access and they face a significant barrier in their ability to file a simple tax return online if they are not eligible to receive an automatic payment. “We request that you leverage the resources and information at your disposal or partner with the necessary federal agencies to get this relief into the hands of those who need it the most, including Americans who do not have internet access.  Time is of the essence and we hope that you will act quickly and decisively in addressing our concerns,” the Senators wrote.

Confronting the unprecedented challenge of lengthy school closures because of coronavirus, the nation’s roughly 13,000 public school districts are scrambling to cope. Almost no district was truly ready to plunge into remote learning full time and with no end in sight. There is no one-size-fits-all remedy and no must-have suite of digital learning tools. Leaders have largely had to find their own way, spurring a hodgepodge of local innovations. As the struggle continues, a few overarching lessons learned — about equity, expectations and communication — are now helping schools navigate this crisis on the fly. After dealing with the first priority — making sure students were safe and fed — schools had to figure out how to keep the learning alive. But America’s persistent digital divide has greatly hampered efforts toward this goal. While most school buildings are fairly well stocked with computers and high-speed internet, millions of students’ homes are not, particularly in lower-income and rural areas.

Here in Georgia, we believe in second chances. That is why students across the state are rallying to give the University System of Georgia another shot at getting the optional pass/fail policy right. Right now, we are struggling to accommodate the transition to online education. For one, home Wi-Fi rarely works. The University of Georgia has recognized that connectivity and access pose a huge issue for many students, so it has offered to distribute Wi-Fi hotspots. But in some places, cell service is so poor that sometimes texts won’t go through. Patchwork solutions, however well implemented, can’t solve the real problem. Our grading system assumes that we all have similar access to resources to complete our education. Now, that just isn’t true. That is why we, along with thousands of our peers, are calling for an opt-in pass/fail system that will allow the students most affected by the coronavirus outbreak to make a decision that we never wanted to make –– but one that will allow us to accommodate the unique challenges this era has brought upon us.

[The authors are University of Georgia students: Bryson Henriott, a freshman from the Vidalia area studying political science,  Peyton Lee, a junior from Zebulon studying agribusiness, and Briana Hayes, a junior from Baxley studying health promotion]

The principles we need to connect us were enshrined by a Republican-led Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In the legislation, overwhelmingly approved by both Republicans and Democrats, the law mandates that the Federal Communications Commission to base policies for the preservation and advancement of universal service on principles including:

• Quality services should be available at just, reasonable, and affordable rates.
• Access to broadband should be provided in all regions of the Nation.
• Consumers in all regions of the Nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, should have access to broadband that is reasonably comparable to broadband provided in urban areas and that is available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas.
• Elementary and secondary schools and classrooms, health care providers, and libraries should have access to affordable broadband for educational purposes.

As it considers additional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress should heed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's advice: act quickly and decisively to make sure that as many Americans as possible have broadband access in their homes -- and enhance existing programs rather than start from scratch. Connecting our kids to educational opportunities and connecting doctors with patients online are not radical new ideas. These are principles a Republican-led Congress enacted nearly 25 years ago. And this is no time to betray our principles -- or our kids. 

A US national probability-based survey during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 spread in the US showed that, above and beyond respondents’ political party, mainstream broadcast media use (e.g., NBC News) correlated with accurate information about the disease’s lethality, and mainstream print media use (e.g., the New York Times) correlated with accurate beliefs about protection from infection. In addition, conservative media use (e.g., Fox News) correlated with conspiracy theories including believing that some in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were exaggerating the seriousness of the virus to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. Five recommendations are made to improve public understanding of SARS-CoV-2.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), and Reps Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the “Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecommunications Act of 2020“ in the House of Representatives. The bill would authorize up to $750 million for a grant program administered by the US Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies, to promote and accelerate the deployment and use of open interfaced, standards-based, and interoperable 5G networks throughout the US. Specifically, the USA Telecommunications Act of 2020 would:

• Create the Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Grant Program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to distribute up to $750 million in grants on a competitive basis to support the deployment and use of Open RAN 5G Networks in America;
• Require a detailed report to Congress each year grants are made and a report detailing the current state of the 5G network supply chain within 180 days of enactment;
• Establish an advisory committee consisting of the FCC, federal agencies and other representatives from the private and public sectors, to advise the NTIA on technology developments to help inform the strategic direction of the grant program.

Similar legislation (S. 3189) has been introduced in the Senate by Sens Mark Warner (D-VA), Richard Burr (R-NC), and four others.

The Federal Communications Commission uses the Electronic Comment Filing System to receive public comments about proposed regulation changes. In May 2017, a surge of more than 22 million comments disrupted the system making it unavailable. We issued a Sept 2019 report with 136 recommendations for improvements in this and other FCC systems. The report was not publically released because it contains security information. This is the public version of that report—with the sensitive information removed. This report also examines the extent of FCC’s corrective actions. As of Nov 2019, FCC had made significant progress in resolving many security deficiencies by fully implementing 85 (about 63 percent) of the 136 recommendations GAO made in Sept 2019. FCC had also partially implemented 10, but had not started to implement the remaining 41 recommendations. Additionally, FCC has created remedial action plans to implement the remaining recommendations by April 2021. Until FCC fully implements these recommendations and resolves the associated deficiencies, its information systems and information will remain at increased risk of misuse, improper disclosure or modification, and loss.