Policyband

Showdown at Homework Gap – Carr, Trusty End Democrats' Raid on the $8.6 Billion Universal Service Fund

GOP-led FCC cuts off E-Rate support for Wi-Fi hotspots and Wi-Fi on school buses

Ted Hearn

Oct 1, 2025 — 8 min read

Photo of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr speaking to reporters yesterday in Washington, D.C.

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BREAKING NEWS: The federal government shut down today after Capitol Hill lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to extend funding through Nov. 21, 2025.

E-Rate: The Republican-controlled FCC voted yesterday to end the Democrats’ raid on the $8.6 billion Universal Service Fund. Over the objections of Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty, both Republicans, teamed to say the $2.6 billion E-Rate program within the USF would no longer pay to install Wi-Fi equipment in school buses or loan out Wi-Fi hotspots at schools and libraries for accessing the Internet away from those institutions. Both were signature initiatives under then-Democratic FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s “Learn Without Limits” program that prompted an FCC attorney to implausibly claim in federal court that school buses were “rolling study halls.” Rosenworcel, an advocate for closing the Homework Gap, pushed ahead despite knowing that Republicans like Carr insisted her approach was unlawful. (More after paywall.)