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# Senate Advances Effort to Reverse New FCC Funding for Wi-Fi Hotspots
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/senate-advances-effort-to-reverse-new-fcc-funding-for-wi-fi-hotspots/
- Published: 2025-05-06T23:23:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-11T05:53:49.000Z
- Description: A similar measure has been introduced in the House.
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: Digital Inclusion, FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, Brendan Carr, Ted Cruz, Russ Fulcher, CRA, SHLB, #with-siderail

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 – In July 2024 under then-Chairwoman **Jessica Rosenworcel**, the Federal Communications Commission expanded a broadband subsidy program to cover Wi-Fi hotspots for schools and libraries. A Congressional effort to repeal the expansion cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate Tuesday.

Senators voted 53-47 [along party lines](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll%5Fcall%5Fvotes/vote1191/vote%5F119%5F1%5F00235.htm?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution that would reverse the FCC’s order. A Senate aide said a final vote on the resolution is expected on Thursday. The House would have to approve its own measure before President **Donald Trump** could sign it into law. Rep**. Russ Fulcher**, R-Idaho, has [introduced the Wi-Fi hotspots CRA](https://fulcher.house.gov/press-releases?ID=CFD266C8-3C29-47EC-A4D3-8924DAB649B9&ref=broadbandbreakfast.com#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%94%20U.S.%20Congressman%20Russ%20Fulcher,prevent%20similar%20regulatory%20overreach%20in%20the%20future.) in the House.

The CRA allows Congress to repeal agency rules for the previous administration with a simple majority vote in each chamber, ruling out a filibuster in the Senate. A successful CRA repeal prevents an agency from adopting the same rule in the future.

The order at issue expanded the FCC’s E-Rate program, which spends more than $2.6 billion per year on internet discounts for schools and libraries, to cover Wi-Fi hotspots that students or library patrons could check out for off-campus connectivity. 

Sen. **Ted Cruz**, R-Texas, was a vocal critic of the hotspot order and led the Senate CRA resolution. He argued the Communications Act allows funding only for connectivity within the physical bounds of a classroom or library. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr**, a commissioner at the time, dissented from the order on the same grounds, as did Republican FCC Commissioner **Nathan Simington**.

Of the $3.2 billion in E-Rate funding requested in 2025 – not all of which will be approved – more than $34 million was for costs related to Wi-Fi hotspots, according to [FCC data](https://opendata.usac.org/stories/s/yu9j-ynf7?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com).

Supporters of the hotspot expansion were quick to express disappointment.

“After hearing so many powerful stories from educators and librarians about how hotspots provide a lifeline to their communities, this vote is a disappointing step backward,” **Joseph Wender**, executive director of the Schools, Healthcare, and Libraries Broadband Coalition, said in a statement. “Stripping schools and libraries of the ability to use E-rate funding for hotspot lending will widen the digital divide and hurt the very people these programs are meant to serve.”

SHLB joined more than 30 groups in [urging the Senate](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/education-library-groups-urge-senate-to-protect-fccs-wi-fi-hotspots-order/) not to move forward with the resolution in March.