HARTFORD, Ct. -- The U.S. Senate could vote as early as today to approve President Donald Trump's nominee to the Federal Communications Commission - a nomination opposed by Democrats and advocates for net neutrality.

Nathan Simington is a Commerce Department official who wrote a controversial rule in May that aims to pressure social media companies - which have slapped warning labels on many of the president's claims about the election. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Trump is trying to promote gridlock and hamstring the agency with an even number of Republicans and Democrats.

"The FCC should be truly an independent agency that serves the public interest, not a political football, which is what Donald Trump is trying to make it," Blumenthal said.

The Trump administration created the vacancy by withdrawing the nomination of an official who had criticized the president's stance on the independence of sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Advocates say the FCC should be focused on ensuring all Americans have reliable broadband to facilitate distance learning and working from home during the pandemic. During his confirmation hearing, Simington refused to answer questions on programs such as E-rate, Lifeline and rural broadband that bring internet service to low-income families and to people in remote areas.

Under Trump, the FCC repealed Obama-era rules forbidding internet service providers from slowing down certain websites or charging more for internet fast lanes, which would disadvantage sites owned by small companies or nonprofits.

Evan Greer, deputy director for the group Fight for the Future, wants the Biden administration and the next Congress to reinstate net neutrality.

"Eighty percent of voters from across the political spectrum overwhelmingly agree that our cable companies should not get to pick and choose which websites we can visit, where we get our news, how we listen to music, how we watch videos," Greer said. "Those are issues that everyone can agree on."

Simington sailed through the committee vote with Republican support and will now need to be confirmed by the full Senate.


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By Adilia Watson. Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter. Reporting for the Daily Yonder-Arkansas News Service Collaboration

Consumer Reports, in partnership with a coalition of partners, is seeking better data on internet speed, reliability and affordability.

Today, Consumer Reports launched "Let's Broadband Together" in partnership with a coalition of groups across the United States, including the Rural Assembly, a program of the Center for Rural Strategies, which also publishes the Daily Yonder.

The project is asking consumers to submit their internet bills and download speeds to a national database that researchers and consumer advocates will use to analyze what American families pay for internet access and what their money buys them.

The rural implications of this effort are apparent. At least 60% of rural residents have said high-speed internet is a problem where they live, according to data from Pew Research Center.

"Broadband access is one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time," said Whitney Kimball Coe, coordinator of the Rural Assembly. "For too long, rural places and Native communities have been on the losing end of the digital divide, unable to fully participate in the economic, social and cultural forces shaping our world today. The Rural Assembly is excited to partner on the Let's Broadband Together project to drive greater transparency and accountability around achieving quality, high-speed and affordable internet."

To participate in the campaign, consumers will be asked to share a monthly internet bill showing cost of service, to complete a speed test, and to fill in a short survey. The entire process is estimated to take about seven minutes. The goal of the "Let's Broadband Together" effort is to "find out what we're really getting for our money and advocate for a better internet that costs less," according to a Consumer Reports press release.

The data will be aggregated and analyzed to develop benchmarks around the cost of service and speed. The project will help analysts understand how and why prices and performance vary. No personally identifiable information will be recorded as part of the project's analysis, the press release stated. Participants will receive a free Consumer Reports membership and access to educational materials about broadband reliability and affordability.

Other organizations participating in the campaign include the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Color of Change, Public Knowledge, the American Library Association, the Open Technology Institute and many more.

Consumer Reports, formed in 1936, focuses on empowering consumers and creating "truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace," according to its website. The organization's president, Maria Tellado, said internet access is a necessity, not a luxury.

"Broadband must be available, accessible, and affordable for all, including low-income households and rural areas," she said. "For too long, the true cost and quality of internet service have been hidden and obscured. We want to shine a light on what's really happening, so every American can have the quality internet they need to succeed today and into the future."

Partners in the project hope that better data will ultimately lead to smarter policy. Historically, official government tallies on internet access have relied on self-reported data from service providers, which tends to provide a limited view on availability and overlook issues with reliability and affordability.

Joshua Stager, deputy director of Broadband and Competition Policy at the Open Technology Institute, explained that this survey will allow organizations to hear directly from consumers.

"The federal government still does not collect this data," he said, "which often leaves policymakers and the public in the dark."

The goal of the campaign is to gather at least 30,000 consumer submissions by the end of September. You can participate by submitting your bill and speed test data at www.consumerreports.org/upload/broadband/?EXTKEY=BBA17EEC1C.

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Adilia Watson wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.


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ALBANY, N.Y. -- A bill to bolster the New York Secure Choice Savings Program will reach Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk in the coming months.

Proponents of the measure said its approval will allow New Yorkers to save for retirement more easily. The legislation would apply to companies with at least 10 employees that don't already provide a workplace retirement savings option.

Through payroll deductions, workers could build up an individual retirement account through the state-facilitated program, at little or no cost to the company.

Bill Ferris, New York state legislative representative for AARP, said input they collected from more than 200 small businesses in the state without a savings program showed how the legislation will help companies and their employees.

"The number one and number two reasons why these small employers in New York did not offer a 401(k) or some other type of retirement savings plan, is because they felt it was too complicated and too expensive for them to do," Ferris reported.

Part of the bill includes automatic enrollment, which another AARP study found can lead to a 90% participation rate. The research also showed without an automatic opt-in, the rate of enrollment drops to 70%, and people of color, young employees, women and low-wage workers sign up less frequently.

Nearly four in five of the surveyed business owners in the state think the updated program should be made law. Ferris noted AARP New York and the bill's proponents hope the measure will empower workers to invest in their financial futures.

"This program clearly does that for New Yorkers, especially those who get up every day and go to work and don't have an opportunity to save for their retirement," Ferris asserted.

The governor has until Dec. 31 to review the expansion, as well as all other bills passed in the state Legislature this session. If signed into law, the measure could help more than two million workers in the private sector save for retirement.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Groups that want to see high-speed internet extended to all areas of the country are pressing the U.S. House to pass President Joe Biden's $1 trillion hard infrastructure bill, which has already passed the Senate.

The proposal includes $65 billion to expand broadband.

Stan Santos, regional coordinator for the Communications Workers of America's "Broadband Brigade," noted the state of California also is kicking in $6 billion to bring high-speed internet to more rural, low-income communities of color over the next three years.

"The United States is in such a poor position, competitively speaking, in relation to so many countries in the world in relation to access to high-speed broadband," Santos observed.

The U.S. is 27th for access to high-speed internet, according to allconnect.com. And we rank 14th in the world for the speed of our mobile and broadband internet connections, according to speedtest.net.

Santos is watching two cases before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). One could force service providers to give data on their networks to the agency for planning purposes. The other would force them to stop redlining, and extend service to smaller, less-profitable communities.

"It has to be regulated," Santos argued. "There has to be requirements, and there have to be consequences if they continue to be bad actors, especially with public funds."

People can check the broadband maps on the CPUC and the Federal Communications Commission websites to see which communities are burdened with slow internet and would be prioritized during the buildout.