Today, the Leadership of the House of Representatives unveiled the HEROES Act, a new  COVID-19 stimulus bill that includes, among other things, an “Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund” that would provide up to $50 a month subsidy for broadband Internet access service or up to $75 in the case of Tribal lands for low-income households and others who have experienced a substantial loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would also provide new funds to support connected devices for K-12 students under the FCC’s E-Rate program, which provides funding for connectivity to schools and libraries.

The following statement should be attributed to Gigi Sohn:

The House bill makes clear what most Americans have known for months – that every American must have access to robust broadband Internet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Broadband Internet access is vital to learning, working, shopping, obtaining health care, connecting with friends and family and importantly, to social distancing. By creating an Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund, the House bill would help mitigate the biggest cause of this country’s digital divide — affordability — and would do it in a way that minimizes red tape and ensures that all Americans who are suffering economically right now can stay connected.

The House bill also mandates that the FCC permit E-Rate funding to be used for connected devices for students outside the four walls of a school and library. While the FCC could have itself provided such funding over the past 2 months when it was desperately needed, it was unwilling to do so. The “homework gap” has now become an “education gap” for some 12 million American school age children. This funding will help to fill this gap.

The Senate left support for affordable broadband connectivity on the cutting room floor in the last COVID-19 stimulus negotiations. As a matter of public health and the health of the US economy, the House broadband provisions must be included in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill. 

Gigi Sohn is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Institute Senior Fellow.  She was Counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from November 2013-December 2016.  Gigi can be reached at 202-253-0876.