Sens. Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Snowe (R-Me.) disputed statement...
Sens. Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Snowe (R-Me.) disputed statements about the E-Rate program in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thurs. on the universal service fund (CD Oct 31 p1). The senators, who are members of the Committee but didn’t…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
attend the hearing, said the E-Rate had not run its course and said support for the program that funded Internet and IT services for schools and libraries should continue. Senate Appropriations Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) questioned FCC Chmn. Powell on whether the E-Rate was close to having served its purpose since 92% of classrooms and 65% of libraries now had Internet connections and whether it still was appropriate to fund the E-Rate through a fee on telecom services. “The increasing demands on the high-cost component of the fund coupled with a declining base of support are threatening the future of the Universal Service Fund, not the E-Rate program,” the senators said, noting that E-Rate was capped at $2.25 billion. They also said the E- Rate would be needed in the future for schools and libraries: “Schools and libraries continually need to be in the forefront, not left behind. E-Rate funding will be just as crucial to schools and libraries in the future as it is now. We have made great strides in connecting classrooms and libraries. But the connections of today will not be adequate for the students of 2010, and we will need to retain E-Rate support for services and connections or our schools will be left out in the future.”