What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
Proposed Fourth Quarter 2026 Universal Service Fund Contribution Factor
The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announced that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2026 will be 0.42 or 42.0 percent. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in consultation with the OMD, instructs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to apply $69 million in unused funds to offset the Schools and Libraries program demand and $56 million in unused funds to offset the Rural Health Care program demand.
It's not too late
The White House, Congress and the country's leading AI companies have allowed AI to grow faster, stronger, more powerful and wildly lucrative (and dangerous), with no serious effort to control it or spread the benefits beyond the super-wealthy. It's not too late to change this. But if they all dither, duck or dance around it, the chances of AI worst-case scenarios will explode, likely early in 2027, according to people who truly understands AI. Yes, President Trump opposes regulation or bipartisan efforts. Yes, AI companies are obsessed with more money, more speed.
What happens when major broadband grants wind down? Revati Prasad, Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, joins Gary Bolton, President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, to explore the future role of state broadband offices and the challenges of sustaining capacity for mapping, oversight, affordability and digital opportunity.
THIS HEARING HAS BEEN POSTPONED
Nominees
Danielle Severs
Danielle Thumann Severs, of North Carolina, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission.
Leslie Becera
Leslie Becera, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Transportation.
THIS HEARING HAS BEEN POSTPONED
No new taxes to fund the FCC’s Universal Service Fund
Washington has a familiar playbook when an outdated federal program runs into trouble: Rather than fixing what’s broken, it just finds someone new to pay for it. That is the danger Congress faces today with the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund. For nearly three decades, USF has helped connect rural communities, low-income Americans, schools, libraries, and rural healthcare providers.
What's next for the AI safety debate
A week of extraordinary warnings about
Congress gripped by AI panic after doomsday warnings
Anthropic insiders' warnings that AI could end humanity in the next decade have members of Congress fr
Legislation
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S. 2586, MARA Act of 2025
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S. 3467, Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Reauthorization Act
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S. 3929, Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act
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S. 4573, Regional Great Lakes Partnership Act of 2026
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S. 4749, JAWBONE Act
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S. 4938, Bycatch Reduction Act
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S. 4950, ITS Codification Act
Unlearn, imagine, build anew: 44th Parker Lecture challenges tech’s dominant narrative
Dr. Ruha Benjamin stressed that the people and companies behind the screen, not the technology itself, are responsible for the harms of artificial intelligence. Dr. Benjamin, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and founding director of the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab, called tech industry leaders “the artificial intelligentsia” and warned that they want the public to believe democracy is outdated software. Drawing on Black intellectual tradition from W.E.B.
The second installment in PK's 25th anniversary event series as we discuss the stories and impact of digital inclusion champions.
Public Knowledge continues its 25th anniversary event series with a look back at the early push for digital rights and inclusion in the era of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – and traces that legacy all the way to today.