We agree with Administrator Roth that fiber is one of the greatest communications innovations ever developed and that competition and continuous innovation have made America’s communications ecosystem the strongest in the world. Communications technologies, applications, and services will continue to evolve, but fiber is fundamentally different. It is the foundational infrastructure that enables those innovations. As Administrator Roth noted, fiber is expected to continue to support 6G wireless, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum networking, and technologies yet to be imagined, which all depend on high-capacity, ultra-low-latency fiber networks. Every major advance in communications has driven greater demand for fiber because it provides virtually unlimited capacity through advancements in electronics at each end of the network, rather than requiring replacement of the fiber itself. Our nation should be investing in the infrastructure capable of supporting generations of innovation. Fiber has consistently proven to be that infrastructure, serving as the essential foundation upon which America’s digital economy is built and its AI-powered future will depend.

Reporting has found that the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar Universal Service Fund pays for what often amounts to slow internet access for customers who actually no longer use it. Once home to thousands of sailors and their families, the island emptied after the base closed in 1997. While the state estimated the population to be 77 last year, residents themselves put it at closer to two dozen—meaning the federal internet subsidy to the local telecom amounts to about $14,000 a year per person. And, it turns out, there’s zero indication any of these people are benefiting from it. No one subscribes to the island’s subsidized internet service. Adak residents get online through Starlink, the Elon Musk satellite service that arrived in 2023 without any subsidy from the FCC. People here say it’s up to 40 times faster and costs $90 to $140 per month, compared with the hundreds of dollars a month that Adak Eagle, the local telecom, once collected from customers on top of its subsidy checks. (Adak Eagle’s website currently advertises internet plans for $99 to $550 per month.) But the subsidies remain.

Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (R-IA) has introduced the Conversational AI Services Act, federal legislation to protect children and teenagers from the unique psychological risks posed by generative AI chatbots. The bill is modeled directly after Iowa's SF 2417, signed into law earlier this year by Governor Kim Reynolds with unanimous, bipartisan support. The Conversational AI Services Act will:

• Empower parents by requiring AI operators to provide parental supervision tools for a minor's screen time and account settings.
• Ban deceptive personas by prohibiting AI from simulating romantic relationships, claiming sentience, or acting as an unlicensed medical or mental health professional.
• Stop tech addiction by banning gamification features, like unpredictable reward points, designed to artificially increase screen time.
• Protect against explicit content by requiring strong guardrails against the generation of sexually explicit material for minors.
• Provide crisis support by requiring AI services to direct users expressing suicidal ideation to expert crisis hotlines.

If you are a school or library seeking E-Rate discounts, a rural health care provider, a Lifeline provider serving low-income households, or a carrier deploying networks with high-cost support, you deal with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)—the private, not-for-profit corporation that administers the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF). On July 16, 2026, the FCC released a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration (WC Docket No. 26-173), that puts nearly every aspect of that relationship on the table: who USAC can audit, how it calculates money it claws back, whether you must repay disputed funds while your appeal is pending, whether your community keeps a dedicated seat on USAC's Board of Directors—and whether USAC remains the USF's administrator at all. The draft has been circulated for consideration at the FCC's August open meeting on August 6. The contents of the NPRM remain subject to change. If adopted, comments will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 60 days after publication.