FCC chair teams up with Ted Cruz to block Wi-Fi hotspots for schoolkids

Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is collaborating with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a bid to block funding for Wi-Fi hotspots aimed at schoolchildren. This initiative follows Cruz's previous efforts to dismantle the FCC's hotspot program, which he successfully pushed to be killed in the Senate back in May. Despite Cruz's resolution not advancing through the House of Representatives, Carr is now taking definitive steps to halt the program's rollout. In an announcement, he urged his fellow commissioners to vote on measures designed to reverse what he termed the unlawful decisions made by the Biden administration regarding COVID-related spending initiatives. Carr expressed concern over the use of taxpayer funds to support unsupervised screen time for children, highlighting the potential risks involved. In a coordinated effort, Carr and Cruz prepared for this announcement, with Cruz issuing a statement through the press release. He criticized the Biden FCC hotspot initiative, claiming it posed dangers to children, duplicated existing federal funding efforts, and violated legal standards. While Cruz's proposal aimed to prevent the FCC from introducing similar regulations in the future, Carr's current action does not exclude the possibility of a future FCC chair reinstating the program. Cruz is urging the House to take up the resolution to ensure that the Wi-Fi hotspot program remains permanently off the table. "Kudos to Chairman Carr for moving to undo the Biden hotspot program and protect children, but now it's time for Congress to step up and codify this change," Cruz stated in the FCC release. He further emphasized the significance of the Senate's passage of his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution in May, urging the House to act swiftly to prevent similar regulations from emerging in the future.