A bipartisan bill is being introduced that would light a fire under FCC efforts to get broadband to all in the time of COVID-19. 

House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), former chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee, are backing H.R. 7022, The Rural Broadband Acceleration Act.  

Related: House Democrats Update Broadband Plan

The bill would direct the FCC to fund "shovel-ready" high-speed broadband buildouts ASAP. 

By ASAP, it means that within a year of freeing up the funds, that access would be available.   

The bill "directs the FCC to accelerate the deployment of funds to bidders in the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) that commit to: 1) build a gigabit tier broadband network; 2) begin construction within 6 months of receiving funding; and 3) provide internet service within a year."

“The Covid-19 crisis has exposed the severity and magnitude of the rural-urban digital divide. Telework, telemedicine, and distance learning are impossible in areas without broadband access. Our bipartisan legislation will fund hundreds of rural broadband construction projects immediately," said Clyburn.

"“If we can pass this bipartisan bill and implement it, it might be one of the biggest leaps for rural America in our lifetime," added Upton. 

The Congress and FCC are focused on getting as much broadband built out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible given the ongoing need for remote healthcare, education and telework in an age of social distancing that could stretch well into the future. 

Related: FCC Says Digital Divide Continues to Close

A focus on closing the digital divide runs in the Clyburn family. His daughter, Mignon Clyburn, is a former FCC commissioner and chairman who continues to promote affordable connectivity for all.

WISPA, the wireless internet providers association, were glad to see bipartisan efforts to speed internet projects, just not this particular one.

"[T]he tool that the Representatives are purportedly using to advance their cause will only dig small innovators already in the marketplace into a ditch in favor of providers who have historically been absent from the effort to erase the digital divide," the group said, but it was not done brandishing its shovels at the legislative proposal. 

"Our shovels have been busy, beating back the digital divide for years. Moreover, WISPs have been doing this largely on their own dime, without special taxpayer status, favorable grants, access to tens-of-millions of utility poles, rights-of-ways, or easements, or statutory protection," it said. "A sudden shift in a well-deliberated FCC process to close the digital divide will actually prevent that process from closing it for years to come."

The Republican leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee is challenging the independence of the FCC Inspector General's (IG) office following its finding that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler did not leak information about the existence of a compromise on Lifeline subsidy reforms in order to blow up the deal.

E&C Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) want the FCC to supply some specific information about the "interdependence" of the FCC and IG, they said in a letter to IG David Hunt.

“In order to address our committee’s concerns regarding the independence of the FCC’s Office of Inspector General and the impact on accountability in the FCC’s decision-making and management, we request… information necessary to understand the practical and working relationship between the Office of the Chairman and the Inspector General.”

The IG report found that Wheeler did leak the information, but that he had the authority to make nonpublic information public, and that there was no evidence of a motive beyond what FCC spokesperson Shannon Gilson, who said she had recommended the chairman release the info, said was "providing the press with information about the compromise Lifeline proposal to address the confusion that was already surrounding the item in the media."

The IG's office said it "found no evidence that the information was provided to the press in an attempt to unduly influence the outcome of the vote."

The Letter from Upton and Walden addresses their concerns more generally, citing a number of issues including what they said was the possible sharing of IG drafts and audits with the chairman's office before they were finalized, the FCC Office of Human Resources, a  "direct report" to the chairman's office, participating in IG hiring decisions, the apparent absence of IG reports from the FCC Web site.

The Republican legislators said that there is "growing concern that because the FCC Inspector General is appointed by, reports to, and is under the general supervision of the chairman of the commission that the IG is not free to provide the honest and independent criticism that is critical to the performance of the IG's oversight."

They want to know, among other things, what mechanisms are in place to ensure IG independence, what role the chairman plays in budgeting, drafting releases, and copies of all communications between the FCC and IG's office since 2012.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), who requested the IG investigation, was also not happy, particularly with the finding that the chairman was free to leak the information.

“The findings by the inspector general reveal significant dysfunction and a lack of transparency at the FCC,” he said after the committee circulated the report publicly. “Under the agency’s current interpretation, the FCC chairman is free to leak cherry-picked details about proceedings and deliberations while other commissioners are gagged and even kept in the dark about decisions by the chairman to approve such leaks. Worse yet, the FCC is not keeping a record of decisions by the chairman to disclose non-public information. This report is yet another indication of increased partisanship and dysfunction at the FCC that underscores the need for Congress to reform how the agency does business.”

Wheeler's office declined to comment on the Upton/Walden letter.

Democratic Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee,  has joined with House Republican leaders to call for the FCC to release the text of its set-top proposal before it votes on it. An FCC spokesperson said that the chairman does not release items until after the final vote.

That request for the text came in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday (Sept. 16) and followed similar calls by Senate Republicans in an FCC oversight hearing this week.

Before a vote such items are considered works in progress--they can still be adjusted and edited--and Wheeler clearly signaled this week that the set-top proposal was not done.

Also calling for release of the proposal text were Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Communications Subcommittee Chair Greg Walden (R-Ore.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). Conyers is ranking member on Judiciary

In the letter, they say that the proposal would benefit from a public vetting and, absent that, it is hard to know what the FCC is planning or its impact.

Republican members of the commission, notably Ajit Pai, have also called for releasing the document.

"Without further delay, we request that you release the text of the proposal," they said, which "raises issues of significance to both of our Committees." They said they also wanted stakeholders to have "time to meaningfully discuss the implications of the proposal."

Senate and House Democrats have increasingly expressed their concerns and called for more deliberation--Wheeler has scheduled a vote for Sept. 29--though Sens. Ed Markey (D-

Wheeler has said he is willing, and expects, to continue to hash out the item with his colleagues, which will be necessary since the two Republicans are opposed and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel has questioned the FCC's authority to get into the app standards-setting business.

"Consistent with long-standing FCC procedure, the Chairman does not release an item under consideration prior to the final vote of all Commissioners," said FCC press secretary Kim Hart. "As Chairman Wheeler has said, releasing the text of the order prior to the vote would be a radical departure from established procedure and could undermine the crucial deliberation process between Commissioners. 

"We continue to have productive conversations with all stakeholders about Chairman Wheeler’s apps-based proposal to ensure consumers have the options they deserve – and that Congress mandated – to access the programming they already pay for."

House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) reacted strongly Thursday (Feb. 5) to a report in The Wall Street Journal about the degree to which the White House had pushed for Title II regulation.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler announced Wednesday (Feb. 4) that new network-neutrality rules to be voted on Feb. 26 would be based in Title II common-carrier regulations, though only a few of them in a "tailored" attempt to restore regs thrown out by a federal court.

President Obama last fall came close to directing a federal agency to take action in an online video outlining why he thought Title II reclassification was necessary; he even sent an aide to the FCC in advance of that video to let the chairman know it was coming.

The Wall Street Journal pointed to what it called an "unusual, secretive campaign" by a couple of White House staffers to get strong network-neutrality rules.

Upton responded: "Tom Wheeler infamously declared to reporters, ‘I am an independent agency,’ after the president publicly pushed for heavy regulation of the Internet," the congressman said in a statement. "Turns out that wasn’t the case then, it’s not the case now, and the White House needs to get its hands off the FCC. The White House’s efforts to drag the Internet into 1930s regulations is a move that puts the FCC on the fast-lane to the federal courthouse. We have a solution that achieves bipartisan goals to protect an open Internet, satisfying both the president’s and chairman Wheeler's previously stated requirements.”