{"id":1536,"date":"2021-02-09T23:50:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T23:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rosen-testing.senate.gov\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/"},"modified":"2022-07-13T20:23:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T20:23:24","slug":"rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b> \u2013U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on <\/i>Salud, <\/i>Educaci\u00f3n,<\/i> Labor and Pension (HELP) and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, joined 36 of her Senate colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urging the agency to utilize the E-Rate program to help close the \u201chomework gap\u201d during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder your new leadership, the FCC must act quickly to address a wide range of pressing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these, we urge you to provide home internet connectivity and devices to students who are unable to participate in online learning during this ongoing emergency. We specifically call on the FCC to take long-overdue action and utilize the E-Rate program to start bridging the \u201chomework gap\u201d without delay,\u201d wrote the Senators.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe urgency of combined action by the FCC and Congress cannot be overstated. Together, we can provide the long-overdue support that our most vulnerable students require,\u201d concluded the Senators.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/b> Studies indicate<\/span><\/a> that almost one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 12 million children still lack internet access at home and are unable to participate in online learning. These students are disproportionally from communities of color, low-income households, and rural areas. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In May of 2020, Senator Rosen helped to introduce the Emergency Educational Connections Act<\/span><\/a><\/i>, legislation aimed at ensuring K-12 students have greater home internet connectivity and devices during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The full text of the letter can be found aqu\u00ed<\/span><\/a> and below:<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel:<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Under your new leadership, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must act quickly to address a wide range of pressing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these, we urge you to provide home internet connectivity and devices to students who are unable to participate in online learning during this ongoing emergency. We specifically call on the FCC to take long-overdue action and utilize the E-Rate program to start bridging the \u201chomework gap\u201d without delay.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach the one year-anniversary of this public health crisis, studies indicate that as many as 12 million children in the United States still lack internet access at home and are unable to participate in online learning. These students are disproportionally from communities of color, low-income households, Tribal lands, and rural areas. Despite our repeated call to address this homework gap, your predecessor at the FCC refused to use the emergency authority available to the Chair and resources available through the E-Rate program to connect these vulnerable children. This mistake allowed far too many students to fall behind in their education.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The E-Rate is, and has been for over two decades, an essential source of funding to connect the nation\u2019s schools and libraries to the internet. Contrary to your predecessor’s assertions, the FCC has always had clear emergency authority to utilize existing E-Rate funding to connect students learning online during the coronavirus pandemic. The statute authorizing this program does not preclude the FCC from freeing funds to connect students\u2019 homes during the current crisis \u2014 which, because schools have had to close their doors, have become de facto classrooms for millions of children.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We appreciate that you have already recognized the FCC\u2019s ability to act, including by asserting in congressional testimony that \u201cthe FCC could use E-Rate right now to provide every school library with Wi-Fi hotspots and other connectivity devices to loan out to students who lack reliable internet access at home.\u201d In accordance with this statement, we urge you to now use your new leadership of the FCC to depart from the prior Commission’s erroneous position.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, we request that you leverage the E-Rate program to begin providing connectivity and devices for remote learning. Although the funds currently available through the E-Rate will not be enough to connect every student across the country, your prompt action would provide an essential down payment. From there, Congress must provide the resources needed to finish the job by passing our Emergency Educational Connections Act, legislation that would appropriate billions more to be delivered through the E-Rate program to help close the homework gap during the pandemic.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The urgency of combined action by the FCC and Congress cannot be overstated. Together, we can provide the long-overdue support that our most vulnerable students require. We know you share our concerns and look forward to working with you to bridge the homework gap during this crisis, as well as design a permanent solution to the digital divide in the days ahead.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Due to the telework policies of many Senate offices during the coronavirus pandemic, physical signatures are unavailable. The listed senators have asked to be signatories to this letter.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/span><\/span><\/i>     <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

###<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, joined 36 of her Senate colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urging the agency to utilize the E-Rate program to help […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press_release","tag-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, joined 36 of her Senate colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urging the agency to utilize the E-Rate program to help […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jacky Rosen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Reilly Lowery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Reilly Lowery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Reilly Lowery\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/20a03a641934935d4f3d4ef406539869\"},\"headline\":\"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\"},\"wordCount\":810,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\",\"name\":\"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Jacky Rosen\",\"description\":\"Senator for Nevada\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization\",\"name\":\"United States Senate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/logo-large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/logo-large.png\",\"width\":631,\"height\":287,\"caption\":\"United States Senate\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/20a03a641934935d4f3d4ef406539869\",\"name\":\"Reilly Lowery\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-ES\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255c914696a2d3a7c7933a27408b26fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255c914696a2d3a7c7933a27408b26fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Reilly Lowery\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/author\/r-lowery\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen","og_description":"WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, joined 36 of her Senate colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urging the agency to utilize the E-Rate program to help […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/","og_site_name":"Jacky Rosen","article_published_time":"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00","author":"Reilly Lowery","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Reilly Lowery","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/"},"author":{"name":"Reilly Lowery","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/20a03a641934935d4f3d4ef406539869"},"headline":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d","datePublished":"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/"},"wordCount":810,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization"},"keywords":["Education"],"articleSection":["Press Releases"],"inLanguage":"es-ES"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/","name":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d - Jacky Rosen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-09T23:50:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-13T20:23:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-ES","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/2021\/02\/09\/rosen-colleagues-urge-fcc-to-use-existing-authorities-to-close-the-homework-gap\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rosen, Colleagues Urge FCC to Use Existing Authorities to Close the \u201cHomework Gap\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/","name":"Jacky Rosen","description":"Senator for Nevada","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-ES"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#organization","name":"United States Senate","url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-ES","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/logo-large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/logo-large.png","width":631,"height":287,"caption":"United States Senate"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/20a03a641934935d4f3d4ef406539869","name":"Reilly Lowery","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-ES","@id":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255c914696a2d3a7c7933a27408b26fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255c914696a2d3a7c7933a27408b26fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Reilly Lowery"},"url":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/author\/r-lowery\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2801,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536\/revisions\/2801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosen.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}