Last week, the House Energy & Commerce Committee released its portion of the Budget Reconciliation Act. This includes a $10 billion appropriation for Next Generation 911 (NG911) grant programs.
A summary of the appropriation is below.
The proposed Section appropriates $10 billion for:
As policymakers work to help Americans cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these efforts are rightfully directed at broadband funding. Congress and the Agencies continue to build on the programs described in our blog post, “The Increasing Importance of Broadband and Federal Funding in Uniting the Country,” with a focus on distance
Funding for a portion of the federal government expired on December 21, 2018, beginning a partial federal government shutdown. The agencies affected by the lapse in funding include the FCC. While the FCC managed to hang on longer than some of the other agencies affected, the Commission suspended operations starting mid-day on January 3, 2019.
As the new Majority Party in the House of Representatives, Democrats will take the gavels as Chairmen of House Committees and Subcommittees as the 116th Congress convenes in January. The House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Communications and Technology have jurisdiction over the FCC and telecommunications issues, including broadband. The current