Ted Cruz Proudly Makes Broadband Shittier And Homework Harder For U.S. School Kids
Last year the Biden FCC passed a new rule providing portable Wi-Fi hotspots to school kids who struggle to do their homework online. More specifically, the rule allowed schools to leverage the FCC’s E-Rate program funds to pay for mobile hotspots in things like busses, making it easier for kids who lack broadband (or can’t afford broadband) to get online. The E-Rate budget was not increased.
Enter the Taco-Bell-fart-in-a-suit known as Ted Cruz, who last January introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) to kill the effort. Why? The effort upset companies like AT&T, which would obviously prefer it if the poor, rural families’ in question had to pay them for an expensive and unreliable rural wireless line. The CRA can be used to reverse rulings done within a set amount of time (usually 6 months).
So this week, that program quietly took another step toward destruction thanks to Ted Cruz’s idiotic efforts and the Republican-controlled Senate:
“The Senate approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to nullify the hotspot rule, which was issued by the Federal Communications Commission in July 2024 under then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The program would be eliminated if the House version passes and President Trump signs the joint resolution of disapproval.”
This sort of thing (helping kids with shitty home broadband do their homework) used to not be partisan, and it’s another example of how radical the modern GOP has become. And how our broken media has normalized that radicalization in really harmful ways.
Again, the destruction of this program comes at the direct request of telecom giants which didn’t like government access eroding their wireless revenues. But the sort of ignorant justifications the GOP threw out to justify the vote were just utterly unhinged gibberish.
Cruz’s original press release announcing his plan teeters in and out of typical far right nonsense, including completely false claims that this free hotspot program somehow “censored kids’ exposure to conservative viewpoints.” Again, just complete nonsense by absolute weirdos, and part of a much broader effort to make sure U.S. broadband remains shitty and expensive to the benefit of big telecom.