Congress kills FCC broadband rule for low-income students
S.J.Res. 7 — A joint resolution 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 Through the E-Rate Program". · Filed by Ted Cruz (R-TX) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 27, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This resolution disapproves an FCC rule that expanded the E-Rate program to help low-income students access broadband at home for schoolwork. Congress votes to kill the rule, preventing the FCC from implementing the homework-gap initiative.
Why we flagged it
This is a Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolution under 5 U.S.C. § 801 et seq., a procedural instrument that voids a specific FCC rule without amending underlying law. It is a one-sentence mechanism with no room for hidden provisions.
What the text implies
- Disapproval may signal congressional intent to block future FCC attempts to expand E-Rate eligibility, potentially chilling agency rulemaking in this area.
- The vote occurs after the rule was already published and in effect (August 2024), so disapproval may disrupt existing program implementation and beneficiary expectations.
- No alternative mechanism is proposed to address the homework gap, leaving the underlying digital-access disparity unaddressed by federal policy.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The disapproved rule aimed to close the homework gap by extending broadband access to low-income students. Killing it removes a public benefit targeting educational equity and digital access for disadvantaged families.
Named in the bill
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), E-Rate Program, Congress (119th), Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Where it stands
16 cosponsors: 16 Republicans.
- Jan 27, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 27, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
- Mar 5, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation discharged, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c)”
- May 8, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 50 - 38. Record Vote Number: 238. (text: CR S2813)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $5,360,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 8 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Ted Cruz, the sponsor, reported $531,115 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Charter Communications Inc — $5,020,000 on 2 filings
- Competitive Carriers Association — $320,000 on 2 filings
- Council for Citizens Against Government Waste — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (986 characters) on Apr 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress kills FCC broadband rule for low-income students” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sjres7 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.