• “Every community needs access to life-saving telehealth services, education, unemployment benefits, but the FCC consistently denied and restricted Tribes from deploying reliable wireless broadband internet. Throughout the pandemic, the administration has left Tribal communities behind and this is yet another example of their indifference to their needs, which only makes the digital divide worse. Tribes can’t afford to wait any longer, so we’re introducing a bill that creates a new window for Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to apply for broadband spectrum so that they have the ability to focus on combating this virus and deploy wireless internet access that they desperately need.” Source: Rep. Deb Haaland (Democrat, New Mexico, District 1)
• “Far too many Native communities lack reliable internet access, shutting them out of a 21st-century economy and limiting their access to life-saving services. This crisis is even more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FCC should have recognized this and extended its last Rural Tribal Priority Window by at least 180 days. But it didn’t, so Congresswoman Haaland and I are leading this bill to give Tribal Nations a real chance at increasing their internet access.” Source: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, Massachusetts)