Senate Votes to Repeal Taxpayer Funded Wi-Fi Hotspots for Home Use
Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding included the repeal of a regulation that expanded the use of the E-Rate program under the Universal Service Fund (USF) to allows tax dollars to be used for the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots in school buses. The rule was adopted on October 9, 2023, and is now in place unless the FCC overturns its prior decision as part of Chairman Brendan Carr’s efforts to reduce or eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations.
The FCC adopted another expansion of the E-Rate program to provide students with mobile Wi-Fi hotspots for use at home in its Addressing the Homework Gap proceeding (FCC 24-76) on July 28, 2024, which would begin in July 2025. The Senate approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution on May 8, 2025, to stop the home use program before it could take effect.
The E-Rate program is intended to connect schools and libraries to the internet. The double expansion of the program puts even more pressure on the controversial USF funding system. As CAGW noted in its comments to the FCC, “the cost to equip a school bus with Wi-Fi hardware, licensing, and maintenance can cost between $2,500 and $4,000 per bus and $400 to $600 annually for mobile broadband services.” With more than 480,000 school buses and other locations across the country that would qualify for this subsidy, there would be significant costs imposed on the USF fund, which is already straining to meet its obligations. The current contribution factor, which is a tax on telecommunications to pay for the USF is currently set at a rate of 36.6 percent for the second quarter of 2025.
The Senate vote on S.J. Res. 7 to halt the home Wi-Fi regulation from moving forward would stop an increase in the already burdensome UFS rate. The senators who voted in favor of the resolution were not only concerned about children’s safety online, but the cost of redirecting a portion of the $2.6 billion E-Rate program away from providing rural schools and libraries the online capabilities they need to install the Wi-Fi hotspots.
Just like the Senate’s action on providing Wi-Fi hotspots to students and some library patrons for use at home, eliminating the E-Rate funding for Wi-Fi hotspots in school buses would be a win for taxpayers and the intended use of the USF program. A school bus is a means of transportation, not a classroom.
Updated on 5/19/2025
