[Pages S2770-S2772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 
COMMISSION RELATING TO ``ADDRESSING THE HOMEWORK GAP THROUGH THE E-RATE 
                               PROGRAM''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks). The clerk will report the joint 
resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 7) providing for 
     congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United 
     States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal 
     Communications Commission relating to ``Addressing the 
     Homework Gap Through the E-Rate Program''.


[[Page S2771]]


  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  (The remarks of Mrs. Britt pertaining to the introduction of S. 1630 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mrs. BRITT. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.


                              S.J. Res. 7

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to speak against S.J. Res. 
7.
  This resolution would prevent millions of students, educators, and 
families from getting online--literally from enjoying the vast benefits 
and resources of the online world.
  Today, students and educators are dependent on broadband to learn and 
teach, to communicate with each other, to establish relationships and 
communities. Digital education has allowed for more flexible learning 
opportunities for all of us, whatever our ages, but most specifically, 
for students doing their homework, doing lectures, engaging in 
discussions, and so much more--all of it online. It is a different 
world, and now S.J. Res. 7 threatens to cut off and constrict that 
world.
  The internet can be a tremendous educational resource, opening new 
doors for curious students, and digital literacy skills are fundamental 
to succeeding in this digital economy, but that economy also creates a 
new system of haves and have-nots. In education, that divide is called 
the homework gap. It is a fundamental question of equity and fairness 
to close that gap. Studies have shown that without broadband at home, 
people earn lower grades than their connected classmates--no secret as 
to why. It is a resource that enables better learning and more 
achievement. That learning loss sets them back in career prospects and 
other opportunities. It sets them back for a lifetime, potentially. We 
saw the impact of the homework gap during COVID, when students were 
forced to take classes and exams from the parking lots of McDonald's. 
Literally, some of us saw students in those so-called hotspots, away 
from their homes, because it was the only way they could access their 
homework.
  Now, to combat that homework gap, Congress established a fund in 2021 
for schools and libraries to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students and 
educators. The program was an enormous success, ensuring nearly 18 
million students at over 10,000 schools and libraries could get online. 
In Connecticut, that Federal support, in addition to State funding, was 
wildly successful to our closing the homework gap. We made sure that 
every single student had access to a laptop and to high-speed 
broadband. I am so proud of everyone in Connecticut who was responsible 
for this program of combining Federal and State resources in the best 
way; but, unfortunately, Federal funds ran out.
  Rather than leave students behind, the Federal Communications 
Commission issued a rule last summer that would allow schools to 
continue providing Wi-Fi hotspots under its E-Rate program. The E-Rate 
program exists to help schools and libraries provide affordable 
internet access; so that was a natural step for the FCC last summer. In 
Connecticut, funds from the E-Rate hotspot rule are supporting hotspot 
lending programs in Hamden, Norwalk, and at countless other libraries. 
I have visited them. I have seen the faces of educators and students 
excited about this enormous potential that brings together communities, 
frankly, from all different political parties.
  There is nothing partisan about this program, but, today, my 
Republican colleagues are trying to cut off those students in Hamden, 
Norwalk, and elsewhere in Connecticut and millions and millions of 
their peers all around the country. This resolution would nullify the 
FCC's rule that allows schools and libraries participating to join Wi-
Fi hotspots to students.
  I have to ask, Really? Are schools and teachers crying out to repeal 
this rule? Really? No, they are not. How does this proposal make any 
sense for them or for families? for the parents? for the community? It 
makes no sense.
  This resolution would undo, in fact, all of the hard work in closing 
the digital divide in States like Connecticut, where people have 
devoted lives and careers to helping students close that homework gap 
and do better. It will renew and exacerbate those inequalities of 
access for rural and low-income communities. It will set back millions 
of students in the name of--what? In the name of what? What is the 
rationale? There is none. It is an embarrassment. It is a disaster. It 
is a self-inflicted wound that we can avoid here on the floor of the 
U.S. Senate.
  I want to remind everyone here that once we vote in favor of this 
rule, we can't go back, literally. You all know the rules. We can't go 
back. The FCC may not adopt a similar rule in the future. This is an 
irreversible, self-inflicted wound. So I urge my colleagues to reject 
this misguided, wrong-headed resolution. It would be a disgrace if we 
deprive those students and their families of this vast resource, of 
literally life-changing access to a really necessary service that helps 
them not just now but throughout their futures. We ought to expand 
internet access, not constrict it. We ought to be enhancing it, not 
cutting it off.
  And this effort is in the name of what? It makes no sense except that 
it exemplifies some of the cruelty and meanness and stupidity of the 
Elon Musk approach to public service and public access and fairness in 
our society.
  I urge my colleagues to take the positive step--and it would be a 
positive step--of continuing this enormously important program in the 
name of educational future, tomorrow and in the days afterward, for our 
students in Connecticut and around the country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Hawaii.


          Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week

  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, this week is Missing and Murdered 
Indigenous Women Awareness Week, and it is a sobering reminder of both 
the breathtaking scale of this tragedy that has plagued Native 
communities for generations and how far we still have to go to bring 
justice and healing to the victims and families affected by it.
  This crisis is likely out of view for most Americans, but it stares 
us in the face. Murder is the third leading cause of death for American 
Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, which is 10 times the 
national average--10 times the national average. American Indians and 
Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely to experience violent 
crimes, including rape and sexual assault, than any other group of 
people in the United States. In Hawaii, 64 percent of human trafficking 
survivors are Native Hawaiian.
  Even so, we still don't know the true extent of the crisis because 
for so long, the Federal Government failed to take it seriously. It was 
more convenient to pretend as if it didn't exist than to dedicate 
Federal resources to investigating the crimes and prosecuting those 
responsible. As a result, in far too many instances, justice has not 
been served and families have not been able to begin the process of 
healing.
  To experience the tragedy of a loved one gone or a neighbor suddenly 
found dead is horrific in and of itself. But worse, these communities 
often have to shoulder the burden of finding answers all by themselves 
while they are grieving. For that to happen anywhere else or to anyone 
else, we would be rightly outraged.
  The fact that it is happening to Native Americans in cities like 
Anchorage or Albuquerque, on remote reservations, and on Hawaiian 
homelands should not change our outrage.
  After decades of underinvestment, Congress finally took steps to 
address this crisis when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act 
in 2022. As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the 
time, I was proud to work with Native leaders and advocates and 
especially my good friend the vice chair at the time, Lisa Murkowski, 
to restore Tribal jurisdiction for certain violent crimes and increase 
Federal resources to keep Native families safe.
  No one bill or action is going to remedy generations of neglect and 
injustice, but it was an important step forward, along with other laws, 
in turning the tide on this shameful and longstanding problem.
  There remains a lot of work to be done to ensure that Native people 
feel safe in their homes and in their communities. And it is a priority 
that we continue to advance on the Indian Affairs Committee with the 
chairman,

[[Page S2772]]

Lisa Murkowski, and many others. But today we remember the many victims 
lost to this devastating epidemic of violence and recommit ourselves to 
helping to find justice and healing for all of those affected.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.

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