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  "description": "A similar measure has been introduced in the House.",
  "path": "/senate-advances-effort-to-reverse-new-fcc-funding-for-wi-fi-hotspots/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-05-06T23:23:18.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_along party lines_",
    "_introduced the Wi-Fi hotspots CRA_",
    "_FCC data_",
    "_urging the Senate_"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 – In July 2024 under then-Chairwoman **Jessica Rosenworcel** , the Federal Communications Commission expanded a broadband subsidy program to cover Wi-Fi hotspots for schools and libraries. A Congressional effort to repeal the expansion cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate Tuesday.\n\nSenators voted 53-47 _along party lines_ to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution that would reverse the FCC’s order. A Senate aide said a final vote on the resolution is expected on Thursday. The House would have to approve its own measure before President **Donald Trump** could sign it into law. Rep**. Russ Fulcher** , R-Idaho, has _introduced the Wi-Fi hotspots CRA_ in the House.\n\nThe CRA allows Congress to repeal agency rules for the previous administration with a simple majority vote in each chamber, ruling out a filibuster in the Senate. A successful CRA repeal prevents an agency from adopting the same rule in the future.\n\nThe order at issue expanded the FCC’s E-Rate program, which spends more than $2.6 billion per year on internet discounts for schools and libraries, to cover Wi-Fi hotspots that students or library patrons could check out for off-campus connectivity.\n\nSen. **Ted Cruz** , R-Texas, was a vocal critic of the hotspot order and led the Senate CRA resolution. He argued the Communications Act allows funding only for connectivity within the physical bounds of a classroom or library. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** , a commissioner at the time, dissented from the order on the same grounds, as did Republican FCC Commissioner **Nathan Simington**.\n\nOf the $3.2 billion in E-Rate funding requested in 2025 – not all of which will be approved – more than $34 million was for costs related to Wi-Fi hotspots, according to _FCC data_.\n\nSupporters of the hotspot expansion were quick to express disappointment.\n\n“After hearing so many powerful stories from educators and librarians about how hotspots provide a lifeline to their communities, this vote is a disappointing step backward,” **Joseph Wender** , executive director of the Schools, Healthcare, and Libraries Broadband Coalition, said in a statement. “Stripping schools and libraries of the ability to use E-rate funding for hotspot lending will widen the digital divide and hurt the very people these programs are meant to serve.”\n\nSHLB joined more than 30 groups in _urging the Senate_ not to move forward with the resolution in March.",
  "title": "Senate Advances Effort to Reverse New FCC Funding for Wi-Fi Hotspots",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T03:29:49.511Z"
}