{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2025-05-06-pt1-PgS2770-5", "2025-05-06", 119, 1, null, null, "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...", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S2770", "S2772", "[{\"name\": \"Katie Boyd Britt\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Richard Blumenthal\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Brian Schatz\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"SJRES\", \"number\": \"7\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"SJRES\", \"number\": \"7\"}, {\"congress\": \"119\", \"type\": \"S\", \"number\": \"1630\"}]", "171 Cong. Rec. S2770", "Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 75 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S2770-S2772]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5,\nUNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS\nCOMMISSION RELATING TO ``ADDRESSING THE HOMEWORK GAP THROUGH THE E-RATE\n                               PROGRAM''\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Banks). The clerk will report the joint\nresolution by title.\n  The legislative clerk read as follows:\n\n       A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 7) providing for\n     congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United\n     States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal\n     Communications Commission relating to ``Addressing the\n     Homework Gap Through the E-Rate Program''.\n\n[[Page S2771]]\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.\n  (The remarks of Mrs. Britt pertaining to the introduction of S. 1630\nare printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills\nand Joint Resolutions.'')\n  Mrs. BRITT. I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.\n\n                              S.J. Res. 7\n\n  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to speak against S.J. Res.\n7.\n  This resolution would prevent millions of students, educators, and\nfamilies from getting online--literally from enjoying the vast benefits\nand resources of the online world.\n  Today, students and educators are dependent on broadband to learn and\nteach, to communicate with each other, to establish relationships and\ncommunities. Digital education has allowed for more flexible learning\nopportunities for all of us, whatever our ages, but most specifically,\nfor students doing their homework, doing lectures, engaging in\ndiscussions, and so much more--all of it online. It is a different\nworld, and now S.J. Res. 7 threatens to cut off and constrict that\nworld.\n  The internet can be a tremendous educational resource, opening new\ndoors for curious students, and digital literacy skills are fundamental\nto succeeding in this digital economy, but that economy also creates a\nnew system of haves and have-nots. In education, that divide is called\nthe homework gap. It is a fundamental question of equity and fairness\nto close that gap. Studies have shown that without broadband at home,\npeople earn lower grades than their connected classmates--no secret as\nto why. It is a resource that enables better learning and more\nachievement. That learning loss sets them back in career prospects and\nother opportunities. It sets them back for a lifetime, potentially. We\nsaw the impact of the homework gap during COVID, when students were\nforced to take classes and exams from the parking lots of McDonald's.\nLiterally, some of us saw students in those so-called hotspots, away\nfrom their homes, because it was the only way they could access their\nhomework.\n  Now, to combat that homework gap, Congress established a fund in 2021\nfor schools and libraries to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students and\neducators. The program was an enormous success, ensuring nearly 18\nmillion students at over 10,000 schools and libraries could get online.\nIn Connecticut, that Federal support, in addition to State funding, was\nwildly successful to our closing the homework gap. We made sure that\nevery single student had access to a laptop and to high-speed\nbroadband. I am so proud of everyone in Connecticut who was responsible\nfor this program of combining Federal and State resources in the best\nway; but, unfortunately, Federal funds ran out.\n  Rather than leave students behind, the Federal Communications\nCommission issued a rule last summer that would allow schools to\ncontinue providing Wi-Fi hotspots under its E-Rate program. The E-Rate\nprogram exists to help schools and libraries provide affordable\ninternet access; so that was a natural step for the FCC last summer. In\nConnecticut, funds from the E-Rate hotspot rule are supporting hotspot\nlending programs in Hamden, Norwalk, and at countless other libraries.\nI have visited them. I have seen the faces of educators and students\nexcited about this enormous potential that brings together communities,\nfrankly, from all different political parties.\n  There is nothing partisan about this program, but, today, my\nRepublican colleagues are trying to cut off those students in Hamden,\nNorwalk, and elsewhere in Connecticut and millions and millions of\ntheir peers all around the country. This resolution would nullify the\nFCC's rule that allows schools and libraries participating to join Wi-\nFi hotspots to students.\n  I have to ask, Really? Are schools and teachers crying out to repeal\nthis rule? Really? No, they are not. How does this proposal make any\nsense for them or for families? for the parents? for the community? It\nmakes no sense.\n  This resolution would undo, in fact, all of the hard work in closing\nthe digital divide in States like Connecticut, where people have\ndevoted lives and careers to helping students close that homework gap\nand do better. It will renew and exacerbate those inequalities of\naccess for rural and low-income communities. It will set back millions\nof students in the name of--what? In the name of what? What is the\nrationale? There is none. It is an embarrassment. It is a disaster. It\nis a self-inflicted wound that we can avoid here on the floor of the\nU.S. Senate.\n  I want to remind everyone here that once we vote in favor of this\nrule, we can't go back, literally. You all know the rules. We can't go\nback. The FCC may not adopt a similar rule in the future. This is an\nirreversible, self-inflicted wound. So I urge my colleagues to reject\nthis misguided, wrong-headed resolution. It would be a disgrace if we\ndeprive those students and their families of this vast resource, of\nliterally life-changing access to a really necessary service that helps\nthem not just now but throughout their futures. We ought to expand\ninternet access, not constrict it. We ought to be enhancing it, not\ncutting it off.\n  And this effort is in the name of what? It makes no sense except that\nit exemplifies some of the cruelty and meanness and stupidity of the\nElon Musk approach to public service and public access and fairness in\nour society.\n  I urge my colleagues to take the positive step--and it would be a\npositive step--of continuing this enormously important program in the\nname of educational future, tomorrow and in the days afterward, for our\nstudents in Connecticut and around the country.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Hawaii.\n\n          Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week\n\n  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, this week is Missing and Murdered\nIndigenous Women Awareness Week, and it is a sobering reminder of both\nthe breathtaking scale of this tragedy that has plagued Native\ncommunities for generations and how far we still have to go to bring\njustice and healing to the victims and families affected by it.\n  This crisis is likely out of view for most Americans, but it stares\nus in the face. Murder is the third leading cause of death for American\nIndian and Alaska Native women and girls, which is 10 times the\nnational average--10 times the national average. American Indians and\nAlaska Natives are more than twice as likely to experience violent\ncrimes, including rape and sexual assault, than any other group of\npeople in the United States. In Hawaii, 64 percent of human trafficking\nsurvivors are Native Hawaiian.\n  Even so, we still don't know the true extent of the crisis because\nfor so long, the Federal Government failed to take it seriously. It was\nmore convenient to pretend as if it didn't exist than to dedicate\nFederal resources to investigating the crimes and prosecuting those\nresponsible. As a result, in far too many instances, justice has not\nbeen served and families have not been able to begin the process of\nhealing.\n  To experience the tragedy of a loved one gone or a neighbor suddenly\nfound dead is horrific in and of itself. But worse, these communities\noften have to shoulder the burden of finding answers all by themselves\nwhile they are grieving. For that to happen anywhere else or to anyone\nelse, we would be rightly outraged.\n  The fact that it is happening to Native Americans in cities like\nAnchorage or Albuquerque, on remote reservations, and on Hawaiian\nhomelands should not change our outrage.\n  After decades of underinvestment, Congress finally took steps to\naddress this crisis when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act\nin 2022. As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the\ntime, I was proud to work with Native leaders and advocates and\nespecially my good friend the vice chair at the time, Lisa Murkowski,\nto restore Tribal jurisdiction for certain violent crimes and increase\nFederal resources to keep Native families safe.\n  No one bill or action is going to remedy generations of neglect and\ninjustice, but it was an important step forward, along with other laws,\nin turning the tide on this shameful and longstanding problem.\n  There remains a lot of work to be done to ensure that Native people\nfeel safe in their homes and in their communities. And it is a priority\nthat we continue to advance on the Indian Affairs Committee with the\nchairman,\n\n[[Page S2772]]\n\nLisa Murkowski, and many others. But today we remember the many victims\nlost to this devastating epidemic of violence and recommit ourselves to\nhelping to find justice and healing for all of those affected.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2025-05-06-pt1-PgS2770-5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2839229311794043, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}