Come to order. I want to thank everybody for coming. I have a fairly short statement that i will read and then i will turn to the senator. Were convening under different circumstances of our previous meeting. Were following the guidance of the cdc and the office of attending physician. So were spaced further apart. Our staff is reduced. Were grateful for all of them. The general public is watching online rather than filling up the room. So our hearing today will look a little different. I think we can all agree that the capitol feels a little different, the halls of congress feel a little different. Small businesses, if theyre allowed to open at all, are operating on a very different circumstances. American homes have become classrooms and offices for millions of american families. And at least for a while, American Life as we know it has changed. Nonetheless, access or inaccess to Broadband Internet services, especially in rural areas, as remained unchanged and it might be a good topi
Strings. They have created rules around exactly when money gets sent out, how much, and exactly what School Districts need to do to receive that money. The last thing is that if congress decides to provide more bailout money for School Districts, they would have to agree to give the strings to betsy devos to decide when and how to dole out money. One of the things i want to point out is federal money is targeted toward low income schools. What betsy divorce is saying is devos. Y divorce host we talk about what is being proposed in the heroes act that are being pushed right now for future additional aid. Act, theder the cares School District can get 13 billion which is really a drop in the bucket. Was targeted they wanted it to spend it on last years costs when they had to shutdowns close in march, purchasing laptops for kids, wifi, etc. The heroes act which has been proposed in the house, that would provide 60 billion for schools. Again, most education advocates are saying they would n
Outbreak of covid19 has led to an unprecedented Public Health crisis and a dire economic crisis. We have lost over 110,000 people to the disease, and 40 million remain unemployed. Back in february as the band that it was worse, we knew we needed to take action to help our Small Businesses survive the economic downturn. We started working with the sba and governors around the country to leverage the sba disaster resources available. Can you please mute . Anyone should be muted. Everyone should be muted. As the virus continues to spread, or state and local governments began imposing stayathome orders and business closures. We quickly realized Congress Needed to do more to meet the full scope of the problem, and that is when we started working on what ultimately became the cares act. To help Small Businesses and eligible nonprofits, congress created a new Paycheck Protection Program, expanded eligibility to the program and provided payment and interest relief for current sba borrowers. I
Including Broadband Access during coronavirus expanding broadband to rural areas telehealth funding and president trumps executive order on social Media Companies. Three hours 25 minutes. Good morning this hearing will come to order todays hearing on the oversight of the fcc. And they are here today and a special welcome to our a distinguished panel for appearing today we will hear from sec chairman pai commissioners. The sec is the nations primary regulator interstate and International Communications networks a core part of the agencys mission is to ensure all People United states have access to rapid and efficient nationwide Communications Services at reasonable prices never before has the responsibility to achieve this mission have been more important covid19 spotlight on the Communications Networks in the American Peoples access to Broadband Service since march there has been a dramatic and sustained a surge in Internet Usage us networks have performed well and we are much better t
A hearing was held wednesday on the oversight of the fcc. The hearing focused on a range of topics including Broadband Access during coronavirus, expanding broadband to rural areas, telehealth, and more. This is three hours and 25 minutes. Welcome to todays hearing on the federal communication committee. I thank our witnesses for appearing. Today we will hear from the fcc chairman, commissioner michael o riley, and jeffrey starks. The fcc is the nations primary regulator of interstate and international networks. They ensure that all people in the United States have access to rapid, efficient, and nationwide Communication Services at reason prices. Never has their job been more important. They have put a spot right on the nations Nations Communications networks. There has been a dramatic usage and we are fairing better than other countries in meeting this increased demand. This is to be applauded, but there is still more work to be done, of course. Today there are far too Many Americans