Senate Republicans File CRA Resolution Undoing 2024 FCC E-rate Hot Spots Order
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Monday he and 12 other panel Republicans filed a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval Monday to undo a July 2024 FCC order that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for…
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off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services, as expected (see 2501160039). Cruz has repeatedly opposed proposals expanding E-rate’s scope to pay for off-campus hot spots (see 2307310063). The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals tossed Maurine and Matthew Molak's challenge to the July order (see 2409260046) but is still reviewing another case the couple brought against the FCC’s 2023 declaratory ruling (docket 23-60641) clarifying that Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose eligible for E-rate funding. Cruz said in a statement that the CRA resolution aims to “reverse the Biden FCC’s overreach and put parents back in control of their children’s online access.” Every “parent of a young child or teenager either worries about, or knows first-hand, the real dangers of the internet,” Cruz said. “The government shouldn’t be complicit in harming students or impeding parents’ ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content.” Other Republicans who co-sponsored the CRA resolution include Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi.