To watch Senator Capito’s questioning, click here or the image above.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) participated in a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing titled “Recent Federal Actions to Expand Broadband: Are We Making Progress?” During the hearing, Senator Capito asked questions about ensuring students’ access to broadband services in West Virginia and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
HIGHLIGHTS:
REDEFINING THE HOME AS A CLASSROOM: “Let me ask you, something that Senator Klobuchar and I are working on, is a bill I formulated from an idea that I saw from one of my very small counties, Doddridge County, who decided they would, as a county, deploy broadband to everyone in the county. We’re talking very rural here and small. I thought it was brilliant who they decided to go to first, they’re going to go to the students… In our bill, we do incorporate some suggestions for e-rate, in other words, reclassifying the home as a classroom…How do we achieve that? Because it is a classroom now for so many of our students and families.”
ENSURING RDOF’S SUCCESS: “We were able to get some local providers—I believe we have a pretty robust response. The FCC came back with a fairly decent, large award that’s going to be able to serve our state in that auction. Here’s my deal: There are people—and I’ve written to the FCC so you know what I’m talking about—there are people, entities who have been awarded census blocks in that auction that haven’t performed in the past. I want to know from you, what kind of teeth do we have in RDOF? What kind of teeth should we put into that in terms of claw backs or whatever, where we could make sure that we’re getting what the proposed delivery is supposed to be?
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