Upcoming policy issue

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the E-Rate program, asking if E-Rate is still necessary and how the program should change. This proceeding could drastically impact the work of the schools and libraries that rely on E-Rate funding. Every state has E-Rate coordinators that help schools and libraries navigate the federal program.

Our goal at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is universal, meaningful connectivity. Under our logo, we say that broadband builds opportunities and strengthens communities. But we haven’t been living under a rock. We know technology does not always build opportunity or strengthen communities. And right now, a real bleakness surrounds technology and what it is doing to us—or might do to us. If you work in digital inclusion, that can give you pause. What exactly are we working to include people in?

President Trump and Big AI have fused their futures around four enormous bets. 

1. The economic bet: That trillions poured into chips, data centers and power will create a productivity engine powerful enough to fuel a new Industrial Revolution.

2. The regulation bet: That Washington can clear the runway for an AI takeoff while leaving the companies largely responsible for policing themselves.

3. The safety bet: That AI can grow vastly more powerful without becoming vastly harder to control.

Rep.

Many governments struggle to get a handle on a technology that has rapidly outpaced their ability to respond. A.I. is evolving so quickly that laws passed two years ago are having limited effect, proposed bills to regulate the technology are stalling without a vote and international summits to discuss what to do are being swiftly forgotten. A.I. has made the gap between policymaking and technology one of the widest ever, according to more than 20 interviews with lawmakers, technologists and policy experts. Many governments are torn between wanting to harness A.I. and fearing its risks.

Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-UT), and Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 to reform the federal environmental review and permitting processes.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are calling on the U.S. Department of Commerce to immediately issue guidance regarding the use of Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds for non-deployment activities so that communities can get funding out the door to eligible projects.

Former artificial intelligence researcher Jacob Coxon recently told the world that the companies he once worked for are driving humanity to the brink of extinction. Days after he made his claims, tech CEOs seemed to agree, and in a series of lengthy manifestos and X posts, asked for … an antitrust exemption.

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.

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.