U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) will not longer be making an in-person speech at CES 2022, the massive consumer electronics show this week in Las Vegas.

He was scheduled to speak Friday, January 7, about the importance of accessible and affordable high-speed broadband but those plans have changed and he will not be speaking, in person or remotely, according to a top staffer.

CES has billed the show as setting a record for in-person appearances by senators and says a trio of senators scheduled for a Friday panel will make their planned appearances.

CES has had to make some changes to the show in light of the rise in COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant. Those include making sessions free to in-person attendees and shortening the in-person event by a day--it was to have extended to January 8 but will now end January 7.

Clyburn's Communications Director Derrick Hope, when asked if the in-person speech was still on or whether Clyburn would appear remotely because of COVID-19, responded: "The Congressman will no longer be attending CES due to a scheduling change."

The emphasis on affordable and available broadband runs in the Clyburn family. Jim Clyburn's daughter, Mignon, was the first female acting FCC chair and in that role and after leaving the commission has made closing the digital divide a focus of her work. ■

A spokesperson for the Consumer Technology Association said Thursday that a quartet of legislators still plan in-person appearances at CES in Las Vegas.

A number of exhibitors have canceled in-person attendance due to the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks.

Scheduled to appear on a panel are Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.).

Asked Thursday if that was still the case, the CTA spokesperson said yes, citing the association's earlier announcement of a record number of senators making the trip.

Also scheduled to speak at the show is House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), father of former acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and whose endorsement was a key to then-candidate Joe Biden's successful presidential run.

Asked if he still planned to make the trip, press secretary Derrick Hope would only say: "Check back after the holidays." ■

As advertised, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), has re-introduced a bill to close the digital divide by connecting everyone to the internet at high speeds--1 Gig is the goal.

"Internet access will have the same dramatic impact on rural communities as the rural electrification efforts in the last century," Clyburn tweeted of the bill, which he previewed at the INCOMPAS virtual conference last month. "This pandemic has further widened the digital divide and exposed the urgent need to enact the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act," said Clyburn.

It may be affordable, but the price tag for the government will be $100 billion.

Also Read: Dems Push Billions for Distance Learning

Clyburn, who created the Rural Broadband Task Force, has said he has lined up support in the House and Senate for his bill.

“Internet for All is more than a goal, it’s a moral imperative," said Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS and himself a former member of the House. "Together our nation can and must, extend the power of faster more affordable internet access to every American family. The “Internet for All” legislation will create jobs today and make a bold investment in a better future filled with more competition, innovation and opportunity for all."

Also Read: LIFT Act Would Invest $100 Billion-Plus in Broadband

The Rural Broadband Caucus leadership is urging President Joe Biden to make closing the rural digital divide a priority in any infrastructure package.

That came at about the same time as one of the caucus' founders, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said he would be reintroducing a bill that would spend $100 billion to do just that.

Also Read: Rep. James Clyburn Signals Return of $100B Broadband Bill

The call for rural broadband came from a bipartisan group of House members comprising Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Mark Pocan (D-Wis), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.), all co-chairs of the caucus.

“As you develop your infrastructure proposal to present to Congress, we write to urge you to include investments that will bring the benefits of broadband connectivity to unserved rural America and tribal areas," they wrote the President. "In the 21st Century, high-speed broadband is no longer a luxury amenity, but rather an essential service for homes and businesses in this interconnected world.”

Also Read: COVID-19 Aid Bill Includes $7 Billion-Plus for E-Rate

Clyburn has reached out to the White House to ask that his $100 billion bill be part of any infrastructure package.

Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Wednesday (Feb. 10) that he plans to reintroduce the Internet Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act.

That came in a video session at the INCOMPAS virtual Policy Summit Wednesday.

The bill would invest $100 billion to close the digital divide. 

Also Read: COVID-19 Aid Bill Includes $7 Billion-Plus for E-Rate

Clyburn, who created the Rural Broadband Task Force, said he had lined up support in the House and Senate for his bill, which would be re-introduced in the House in the next couple of weeks.

He said he had talked to everybody he needed to, including the White House, to make that investment in "accessible and affordable broadband for all" an integral part of any infrastructure bill.

He relayed the story of a farmer in a rural Tennessee church. "He said 'brothers and sisters, the greatest thing on Earth is to have the love of God in your hearts, and the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your house.'" Clyburn said the new "next greatest" is broadband. 

Saying he could speak out more freely given that his daughter, Mignon Clyburn, former acting FCC chair, had decided not to get back into government, Clyburn weighed in on broadband mapping.

Also Read: Dems Push Billions for Distance Learning

He said that the notion that if one house in a census tract has access to broadband all the homes do can't continue to be the case. He pointed out that both he and INCOMPAS President Chip Pickering were from Southern States (Pickering is a former Mississippi congressman), and said that on a plantation, what the "Big House" gets does not necessarily apply to other houses.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) was joined by members of the House Rural Broadband Task Force and other House Democrats Wednesday (June 24) to introduce H.R. 7302, the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, yet another bill to boost broadband in the time of COVID-19 and beyond. 

The bill would put $100 billion into building high-speed broadband infrastructure in underserved as well as unserved communities and subsidize the service to make sure it was affordable. It would also put billions of dollars into broadband adoption programs. 

Related: Birpartisan Bill Would Goose Broadband Buildouts 

“Over a year ago, I formed the House Rural Broadband Task Force with the goal of bringing affordable high-speed internet to 100 percent of Americans,” said Clyburn. “Since then, the disparity between those served and unserved has become clearer. In my home state alone, nearly 1 in 10 South Carolina households lack access to a reliable broadband connection." 

The bill is part of the Democrats' massive ($1.5 trillion) infrastructure bill, the Moving Forward Act. 

The Clyburn bill would spend $80 billion to close the digital divide with high-speed broadband infrastructure nationwide, with $5 billion going to low interest broadband deployment loans. It would establish an office in the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), the FCC's chief communications policy advisor, to make sure the money allocated for the program was spent efficiently. 

On the affordability end, the bill would 1) require an "affordable option" for users of the built-out braodband infrastructure, 2) provide a $50 monthly subsidy for low-income residents, and 3) require the FCC to collect nationwide data on broadband pricing.  

On the adoption side, it would give states $1 billion to spend on closing adoption gaps, provide $5 billion for distance learning, and funding for Wi-Fi in school buses. 

The bill currently has 30 co-sponsors. 

Boosting broadband funding for low-income communities runs in the family. Clyburn's daughter, Mignon, was the FCC's first African American chair and a champion for closing the digital divide.

“OTI is proud to support this bill, which would make internet service more accessible and affordable during COVID-19 and beyond," said Joshua Stager, senior counsel at New America's Open Technology Institute. "The bill would also end the FCC's regulatory war on Lifeline, remove barriers to municipal broadband networks, and make internet pricing transparent for the first time. These are all long overdue steps that would help millions of people. We applaud the Task Force for their work and urge Congress to pass this bill.”

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."

Some Democratic members of the House Task Force on Rural Broadband., led by Majority Whip James Clyburn, have called on the FCC to reverse its decision to elimate the educational broadband service (EBS) designation of the 2.5 GHZ band. 

That came in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

A politically divided FCC voted earlier this month to convert the 2.5 GHz band from one reserved for EBS licenses to flexible licenses that can be used for 5G, and to auction currently unassigned spectrum (white spaces) in the band. 

Clyburn and a quartet of other Dems expressed their "strong disapproval" of the FCC  

“Too many communities across the country are in digital desserts and the rural areas that do have access to high speed internet, the service is often unreliable, unaffordable, and too slow,” said Clyburn. “EBS provides millions of rural Americans access to the internet and the FCC’s decision to eliminate education requirements for EBS only exacerbates the rural-urban digital divide. High-speed internet access is essential to education, health care and employment in rural communities. Without connectivity, rural households will continue to be left behind.” 

Broadband access advocacy runs in the family. Clyburn is the father of former FCC commissioner and chair Mignon Clyburn, for whom closing the digital divide was a prime directive.