A bipartisan and bicameral group of legislators has introduced a bill that would create what amounts to a National Broadband Plan 2.0.

The FCC released a National Broadband Plan under then-chairman Julius Genachowski more than a decade ago.

The Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act would require the President to come up with a national strategy "to close the digital divide" and a plan to implement that strategy.

The legislation stems from a Government Accountability Office report that concluded broadband efforts were "fragmented and overlapping" and recommended the creation of a broadband strategy.

The White House has not decided whether such a plan is needed or not. It has been putting tens of billions of dollars into broadband access subsidies, including pandemic-driven healthcare and distance education dollars as well as some $65 billion in infrastructure money. Some of that money is being overseen by the FCC, but most of it by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, with much of that money going to the states for them to dole out as they see fit.

The Department of Agriculture also has broadband subsidy money for connected agriculture and other rural service.

The 2010 FCC plan notwithstanding, GAO said in the report that there are some statutory limitations on aligning the current “mosaic” of programs, including differing definitions of eligible areas and broadband speeds.

In 2020 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for an update of that 2010 plan and Blair Levin, the architect of the plan under Genachowski, agreed, saying it was long overdue.

While the NTIA in 2018 led an interagency group that reviewed those different definitions, it did not identify which statutes limited how the programs could be aligned or recommend any changes.

The GAO said change is necessary. “Without legislative proposals for Congress to consider, agencies may continue to face limitations in aligning programs to close the digital divide,” GAO concluded.

GAO's conclusions were based on its own analysis combined with interviews with stakeholders including ISPs and officials.

The legislators obviously are on the same page.

Introducing the bill were Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate
Commerce Committee; Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), chair of the Communications Subcommittee; and Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

Wicker suggested a plan was needed to prevent the programs from being "mismanaged" and not coordinated, while Luján, looking at a half-full glass, suggested it was needed to improve the coordination between federal agencies.

The FCC and NTIA this week updated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on coordinating spectrum policies, which is meant to help speed the freeing-up of spectrum for wireless broadband, among other things. 

"I am pleased that these Senate and House leaders have introduced this bill, which will require a national strategy as well as an implementation plan," said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. "It is critical that Congress move quickly to pass this legislation, and I would encourage all federal agencies to administer their broadband programs in a manner consistent with the smart policies included in this bill.” ■

The Government Accountability Office is recommending that the U.S. get its broadband subsidy act together.

GAO said Congress needs to come up with a national broadband plan to rectify what it says is a “fragmented, overlapping patchwork” of broadband accessibility funding, though the White House has not decided whether it plans to do that or not.

That is according to a new GAO report that identified more than 100 federal programs — overseen by 15 agencies — that can be used to expand access.

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration is administering the major share of that.

GAO recommends “synchronizing” those federal efforts through a “national broadband strategy.”

Also: FCC Launches Broadband Plan Rulemakings

"The U.S. broadband efforts are not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures," the GAO report said.

The FCC came up with its own national broadband plan more than a decade ago — under Julius Genachowski, chairman during President Barack Obama‘s first term — but the GAO said that there are some statutory limitations on aligning the current “mosaic” of programs, including differing definitions of eligible areas and broadband speeds.

In 2020, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for an update of that 2010 National Broadband Plan, and Blair Levin, the architect of the plan under Genachowski, agreed, saying it was long overdue.

And while the NTIA in 2018 led an interagency group that reviewed those different definitions, it did not identify which statutes limited how the programs could be aligned or recommend any changes.

The GAO said change is necessary. “Without legislative proposals for Congress to consider, agencies may continue to face limitations in aligning programs to close the digital divide,” GAO concluded.

GAO's conclusions were based on its own analysis combined with interviews with stakeholders including ISPs and officials.

The GAO offers three recommendations for the new broadband strategy, two of which the NTIA, which is the White House's chief communications policy arm, said apply to it and which it supports:

• The NTIA should identify key statutory limitations — what it said the agency did not do in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump — and prepare a report to Congress;
• The NTIA should solicit and incorporate regular feedback when updating the BroadbandUSA Federal Funding Guide; and
• The Executive Office of the President should “develop and implement a national broadband strategy.”

NTIA did not address the third recommendation and the White House did not jump at the suggestion.

“The Executive Office of the President has not decided if a national strategy is needed,” GOA said, adding somewhat pointedly, “but it is well-positioned to develop and implement one.” ■

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is concerned about the power of the CEO of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and is recommending Congress consider no longer allowing that CEO to unilaterally appoint or remove board members of the six broadcast networks it oversees.

GAO is also recommending that Congress define the firewall between USAGM (formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors) and those networks--and what is unacceptable interference with their editorial independence.

Also: Trump Seeks Cuts to International Media Funding

That is according to a new GAO report requested by Congress as it took steps to reverse some of the decisions of Congress during the Administration of President Donald Trump to centralize USAGM control under a CEO, rather than a board.

USAGM oversees government-funded independent news outlets providing info to countries where press freedom is problematic. Those outlets include the iconic Voice of America, whose news President Trump attacked at one point as "disgusting."  

In pushing for funding cuts for international broadcasting, the White House under Trump said that it had concluded that "information statecraft and public diplomacy programs by the U.S. Government have been tepid, fragmented, and not fully effective in countering the exploitation of information by U.S. rivals." The Administration had said it didn't want to continue to fund projects whose effectiveness was unknown and whose efforts were not coordinated across government agencies.

While the White House suggested it was about oversight and getting the most bang for the buck, critics saw it as a way to move the services from unbiased news to pro-U.S. propaganda.

VOA and the other outlets were formerly overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors in collaboration with a CEO, but the President moved to the CEO-led model.

The networks at issue are "federal broadcasting networks"—Voice of America (VOA) and Office of Cuba Broadcasting and three non-federal networks that get government grants--Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

Congressional calls for the GAO were also prompted by allegations that, under the Trump model, there were ongoing threats to the networks' editorial independence. The President appeared to be unhappy that the networks were not promoting the U.S. even though their charter is to report news of interest to those countries that they may not have access to otherwise, not to propagandize or politicize.

GAO pointed out that then Senator Joe Biden said that the U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994 created the "firewall" by recognizing that journalists and broadcasters need to remain independent to produce balanced and unbiased work product, including that "U.S. international broadcasting be conducted in accordance with the highest professional standards of broadcast journalism" and that it "include news that is consistently reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and comprehensive."

A bipartisan group of House members wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review how interagency cooperation can speed broadband infrastructure buildouts and what progress agencies have made toward such productive cooperation.

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), the White House’s chief telecom advisory arm, has been given a prominent role in the Biden Administration's multi-billion dollar effort to subsidize universal broadband access.

Also Read: RAY BAUM‘s Act Passes House

Writing the GAO were House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.); and Communications Subcommittee chairman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and ranking member Bob Latta (R-Ohio).

They pointed out that RAY BAUM‘s Act directed the NTIA to facilitate broadband buildouts on federal property — the NTIA issued a report in October 2020 — as well as to work with the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Defense, and Transportation, the Office of Management and Budget, and the General Services Administration on ways to streamline siting permits.

They want the GAO to find out how those agencies plan to implement the recommendations in the 2020 report, how NTIA is overseeing federal agency coordination, what challenges they face in implementing the recommendations, and to what extent providers have been affected in areas where there has not been streamlining.

The General Accounting Office has questions about the FCC's Universal Service Fund subsidy program and says the commission needs more data so it can measure the USF's effectiveness.

That is according to a report commissioned and released Friday (Oct. 30) by House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).

"Although the performance goals for the high-cost program reflect principles in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, not all of the goals are expressed in a measurable or quantifiable manner and therefore do not align with leading practices," the GAO report concluded. "Furthermore, FCC’s measures for its performance goals do not always align with leading practices, which call for measures to have linkage with the goal they measure and clarity, objectivity, and measurable targets, among other key attributes....By establishing goals and measures that align with leading practices, FCC can improve the performance information it uses in its decision-making processes about how to allocate the program’s finite resources."

GAO also said the FCC needs to do a better job of reporting on the program's progress toward performance goals.

GAO offered up some recommendations:

1. "The Chairman of FCC should revise the high-cost performance goals so that they are measurable and quantifiable.

2. "The Chairman of FCC should ensure high-cost performance measures align with key attributes of successful performance measures, including ensuring that measures clearly link with performance goals and have specified targets.

3. "The Chairman of FCC should ensure the high-cost performance measure for the goal of minimizing the universal service contribution burden on consumers and businesses takes into account user-fee leading practices, such as equity and sustainability considerations.

4. "The Chairman of FCC should publicly and periodically report on the progress it has made for its high-cost program's performance goals, for example, by including relevant performance information in its Annual Broadband Deployment Report or the USF Monitoring Report."

In their response to the report, the FCC's managing director, Mark Stephens, and Kris Anne Monteith, chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau, said they agreed with those recommendations. They also said that they would recommend that the Commission "revisit the overarching performance measures as part of ongoing and future proceedings" involving the high-cost program, which is the USF fund going to areas where buildouts are too costly to justify private investment. But they added that GAO's characterization of the high-cost fund as the primary reason for the rising contribution factor is incorrect since total spending on the high-cost program has only increased 10% while the contribution factor has increased by 35%.

While the tone of the report was not accusatory, Pallone read the results as an indictment of the FCC's handling of the program under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

“I requested this report because I had profound concerns about the Trump FCC’s handling of the Universal Service Fund, and today’s report validates those fears," he said. "GAO has found that the high-cost program has been woefully maintained, with basic governance structures either wholly missing or outdated, effectively being left to rot under Chairman Pai’s leadership.

“This news comes as the FCC pushes out $16 billion in high-cost broadband funding without adequate or accurate broadband maps to guide them – and is doing so over the express objections of Democratic FCC Commissioners.

"It is likely that, as a result, funding will be poorly targeted and wasted, when it could and should be going toward communities in desperate need of connectivity," said Pallone. "Today’s report confirms that Chairman Pai’s FCC has failed to be a proper steward of the Universal Service Fund, and future Commissions will be at a serious disadvantage in closing the digital divide as a result.”

That "RDOF" was a reference to the FCC's launch this week of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund subsidies.

The General Accountability Office said the FCC's plan for managing the rollout of 5G has not laid out "specific and measurable performance goals" for either managing the spectrum demands of 5G or closing the digital divide, and it needs to.  

That is the basic takeaway from a just-released report on 5G Deployment, whose title says it all from GAO's point of view: "FCC Needs Comprehensive Strategic Planning to Guide Its Efforts." It cites an FCC 5G planning document [the Facilitate America’s Superiority in 5G Technology Plan, or 5G FAST Plan," that it said lacks those needed metrics, without which the FCC "will be unable to determine the effectiveness of its spectrum management efforts, particularly related to the congested mid-band spectrum that is critical to 5G deployment." 

Related: FCC Clarifies 5G Buildout Streamlining Strategy 

It also said without such metrics, experts have said 5G deployment could widen the digital divide because it will be deployed initially, especially with the FCC's initial focus on high-band spectrum, is likely to be deployed in areas that already have the infrastructure, which are more urban, densely populated, and high-income, while those on the other side of the divide are mostly rural and low income. 

The FCC counters that it needs to tailor those metrics to individual proceedings and circumstances rather than prejudging them, including getting input from federal agencies on band-specific proposals since they are often implicated by efforts to free up spectrum for commercial use. 

The report, which was commissioned by members of Congress, looked at the challenge of allocating low-, mid- and high-band spectrum for 5G and how the FCC is approaching that challenge and the associated challenge of closing the digital divide. Both are increasingly important as the COVID-19 pandemic gets a second wind and the public is reliant on virtual connections to replace physical ones. 

Related: 5G Is Here and For Real This Time 

The study was based on the input of experts, reviews of "relevant statutes, literature, and FCC documentation," according to GAO, as well as interviews with FCC and other federal officials and stakeholders including wireless carriers and industry associations. 

The report noted both the importance of making more mid-band spectrum available and the challenge of doing so given that current users include federal agencies that "may not be able to readily transition to new or less favorable spectrum bands," though the FCC would argue that the challenge is also that federal agencies are reluctant to give up spectrum, ready or not, even if FCC engineering shows they can do so without sacrificing favorability. 

GAO said the FCC needs to adopt those specific and measurable goals to "(1) manage spectrum demands for 5G and (2) determine the effects 5G deployment and any mitigating actions may have on the digital divide." 

The FCC, which gets to respond to the findings, indicated that setting spectrum goals "could unnecessarily limit its options," but otherwise took no position on the recommendations," said GAO. 

In its response to GAO, which came from the chiefs of the Wireless and Wireline Bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology, the FCC said that it does not want to prejudge issues by adopting performance goals before it reviews the record in individual proceedings, including economic and engineering studies. 

"In other words," they said, "the commission adopts specific and measurable performance goals (with related strategies and measures) during ongoing rulemakings, once it becomes possible to establish such goals....Prejudging the engineering, economic, and other technical outcomes of a proceeding through unfounded or artificial benchmarks, as GAO recommends, could have the unintended consequences of limiting the options available to manage federal and non-federal spectrum demands," they said. 

The FCC has signaled it is about a year away from fully implementing GAO recommendations for fixing deficiencies in its electronic comment filing system (ECFS), but the General Accountability Office suggests that means a year away from a secure system. 

ECFS is where the public and stakeholders can file comments on proposed FCC actions, like on whether or not to deregulate internet access, to cite one particularly germane example. The FCC is supposed to take those comments into account before taking action. 

Related: FCC Net Neutrality Docket Heats Up Again 

The FCC has said it has implemented 85 of GAO's 136 recommendations, with another 10 partially implemented and the remaining 41 to be fully implemented by April 2021. 

GAO said in its report, a public version of one it gave to the FCC last September, that until that "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." 

The FCC took a lot of grief over its handling of the net neutrality docket which included filings under bogus names and addresses and allegations of millions of fraudulent comments, some from Russia, and of manipulation of comments by special interests. At the time FCC chairman Ajit Pai said that the FCC was erring on the side of inclusiveness and that bogus comments did not affect the outcome of the proceeding, but also agreed to tighten up the ship per the GAO report. 

"The FCC is committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our information systems," said an FCC spokesman. "We have been engaged in a major, multi-year strategic effort to modernize our IT capabilities and deliver secure, scalable, and reliable networks for both our internal operations and our public-facing systems. We have been working diligently to address the recommendations in the report and have addressed 94 to date and plan to implement the remaining recommendations on a rolling basis over the next year."

Related: FCC Says Rulemakings Aren't Opinion Polls 

House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), one of those critics of the FCC's handling of the docket (he requested the report), said he had urged Pai last December to fix the remaining issues before the public release of the report. 

Pallone said he asked for the report because it was clear that "after the net neutrality repeal comment period debacle, the FCC’s cybersecurity practices had failed. After more than two years of investigating, GAO agrees and found a disturbing lack of security that places the Commission’s information systems at risk... Until the FCC implements all of the remaining recommendations, its systems will remain vulnerable to failure and misuse.  

He called on Pai to fix the remaining vulnerabilities ASAP. 

A report from the Government Accountability Office concludes that the FCC could do more to fight fraud from small and midsized (so-called "rate-of-return") carriers participating in its $4.5 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) broadband High-Cost subsidy program. 

That is the subsidy program that subsidized broadband deployment to rural and other costly-to-deploy areas of the country so they can have access to advanced communications services on relative par--in quality and cost--with urban areas. 

The report, whose title is a recommendation ("FCC Should Take Additional Action to Manage Fraud Risks in Its Program to Support Broadband Service in High-Cost Areas") concludes that the FCC has not done enough to prevent rate-of-return carrier misconduct and compensating those for " improper, ineligible, or inflated costs."

The FCC does review the program for fraud, and in August launched a new Fraud Division to investigate Universal Service Fund abuses generally.  

FCC chair Ajit Pai has made combating waste, fraud and abuse in broadband subsidies an avowed priority, including launching an investigation of Sprint in September over alleged "outrageous" abuses of the Lifeline broadband subsidy, also part of the USF program.  

But GAO said that the FCC still was not planning fraud assessments tailored to the high-cost program. "[D]esigning and implementing an antifraud strategy that conforms to leading practices would help FCC effectively manage and respond to the fraud risks identified during the fraud-risk assessments," GAO concluded. "Without regular fraud-risk assessments of the high-cost program, FCC has no assurance that it has fully considered important fraud risks, determined its tolerance for risks that could be lower priorities, or made sound decisions on how to allocate resources to respond to fraud risks," the report said. 

Related: FCC's O'Rielly Cites Possible E-Rate Abuses

The FCC said it will take that recommendation into account, act on some for the suggestions and review others. "We remain committed to our statutory obligation to close the digital divide, while preventing waste, fraud and abuse of universal service funding," said FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens and Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Anne Montieth in a response to the GAO included in the report. 

House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who requested the report, called for a new FCC anti-fraud strategy ASAP: “I requested this report because it was clear FCC was failing to adequately protect the high-cost program against flagrant waste, fraud and abuse of federal funds by some rate-of-return carriers," said Pallone. "After more than a year of investigating, GAO agrees. The high-cost program provides federal funding that is integral to promoting broadband buildout in rural America. Chairman Pai must heed GAO’s recommendations and implement an antifraud strategy for the program," he said.” 

WASHINGTON — A new Government Accountability Office report concludes that the FCC conducted limited analysis of the need for set-top box regulations before proposing some, and that most experts and stakeholders it consulted for the report “said that further regulations for this purpose were not needed, given recent changes in the video content market.”

That pretty much squares with the view of the current Federal Communications Commission chair, Republican Ajit Pai, who is unlikely to exhume a previous effort to unbundle cable channels for easier online access.

Related: Pai Pulls Set-Top Proposal

Nineteen of 35 experts the GAO turned to found further regulation of set-top devices was not needed. Eight said they were needed, and the rest provided “uncertain” responses or did not comment, per the GAO.

Widespread changes in the video market in recent years have expanded consumers’ choices of video services as well as devices to access those services, the report noted, something the FCC would be well served studying in a “comprehensive analysis,” the GAO said.

Pai pushed back on efforts by his predecessor, Tom Wheeler, to impose new regulations on set-tops. That effort, which drew widespread protest from programming providers and others worried about the impact of government interference with carriage contracts, eventually failed when Wheeler could not secure three Democratic votes. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel had issues with the regulations’ impact on content protections.

Read More: Complete coverage of the Tom Wheeler FCC's proposed set-top rules

The GAO study was based on research data, interviews with the 35 stakeholders who filed comments with the FCC (12 MVPDs, five video content producers, three device manufacturers and 12 industry associations among them), as well as with 11 industry analysts and experts identifed in news coverage.

The FCC's Lifeline subsidy program is plagued by "massive fraud" and "waste," according to the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) released the results of a three-year GAO study that identifed significant risks in the program, which subsidizes baseline telecom services to low-income residents; historically the program covered phone service, though it is being migrated to broadband.

FCC chair Ajit Pai has long said the program needs a reset to institute better protections against waste, fraud and abuse. McCaskill has also called for Lifeline reforms, including stronger FCC oversight. Former FCC chair Tom Wheeler also instituted reforms to boost oversight, but there were continuing problems, said McCaskill.

For example, GAO was unable to confirm whether 36% of the 3.5 million invididuals it reviewed (or some 1.2 million) actually participated in any of the qualifying programs, like Medicaid, that they stated on their applications for the subsidy.

Related: Pai Pushes States for Lifeline Subsidy Abuse Info

McCaskill requested the GAO investigation, and didn't like what she saw.

“A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong,” said McCaskill, who is the former Missouri State Auditor. “We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue.”

Related: Senate Drills Down on Universal Service Fund

Among the report's key takeaways, according to McCaskill, are:
• "Eligibility could not be verified for 36% of Lifeline customers. Auditors reviewed 3.5 million Lifeline accounts by comparing subscribers’ stated eligibility information with multiple federal and state databases. Of the 3.5 million accounts examined, the eligibility of 1.2 million subscribers could not be confirmed—who collectively represent $137 million per year in Lifeline subsidies.

• "$1.2 million per year in subsidies is going to fictitious or deceased individuals. Auditors found over 5,500 active Lifeline subscriber accounts with matching names, dates of birth and Social Security Numbers, collectively representing $612,000 per year in Lifeline subsidies. Over 5,400 deceased individuals were enrolled in Lifeline more than a year after they died, totaling $600,288 in improper subsidies.

• "Undercover testing found that phone companies approved Lifeline applicants with fictitious eligibility information 63 percent of the time. GAO investigators contacted 19 Lifeline providers and applied for service using false eligibility information. They were approved in 12 cases.

• "Many providers rely on contractors or subcontractors—in some cases using overseas call centers—to enroll Lifeline subscribers and review government benefit documentation to verify eligibility. However, the FCC was unaware that providers were using third-party call centers. When undercover investigators applied to work for a company that contracts with Lifeline providers to perform eligibility verification, they were hired without an interview or background check and subsequently were paid for enrolling fictitious Lifeline subscribers.

• "USAC is supposed to audit telecommunication providers to ensure they pay required USF contributions, but GAO investigators found USAC only audited one-half of one percent of providers; in the most recent year GAO reviewed, they audited less than one-tenth of one percent of all carriers.

• "The FCC keeps funding for the Lifeline program and other USF programs in a private bank account with a current balance of over $9 billion, but does not have direct control over these funds. Only USAC is a party to the contract with the bank that governs the USF account. Since 2005, GAO has recommended that the FCC move these federal funds to the U.S. Treasury, but so far no change has been made."

The GAO recommended the FCC come up with a comprehensive review and enforcement plan. The GAO made the report available to the FCC, which said it generally agreed with the assessment and was already taking steps to address some of the issue.

Another prominent Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, was warning against throwing out the lifeline baby with the waste, fraud and abuse bathwater.

“The Lifeline program provides millions of low-income Americans access to basic communications services,"  he said in statement on the report. Today cell phones are a necessity, and low-income Americans rely on them more heavily than the overall population.  Lifeline has been a critical springboard for struggling families across the country for decades, and it would be a mistake to use this report as an excuse to rip away this essential service from struggling families and hardworking people."

“As an Energy & Commerce Democratic Staff Report found last year, the FCC has already reined in a billion dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse that was allowed under Bush-era changes to the program. In fact, much of GAO’s investigation took place before the FCC adopted its latest reforms. GAO’s report confirms the need for the FCC to act on our recommendations as quickly as possible.”

“Last year, I led an investigation into the Lifeline program that revealed serious weaknesses in federal safeguards," said Pai of the report. "Today’s GAO report confirms what we discovered then:  Waste, fraud, and abuse are all too prevalent in the program.  Commission staff and the Office of Inspector General have already been developing recommendations to better safeguard taxpayer funds. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to crack down on the unscrupulous providers that abuse the program so that the dollars we spend support affordable, high-speed broadband Internet access for our nation’s poorest families.”

“The bottom line is the FCC must fix what little needs repair and get on with the job of making broadband accessible to those who cannot afford the high prices providers charge for something everyone must have," said Michael Copps, former FCC chairman and now special adviser to Common Cause.