FCC Funds E-Rate at $2.25-Billion
Authorized Maximum
Following a recommendation from Federal Communications Commission Chair William Kennard, the agency voted May 27 to approve the funding level of the e-rate program of telecommunication discounts for libraries and schools at its $2.25-billion authorized annual maximum, $900 million more than it received in its first 18 months. Kennard rejected calls from congressional critics of the program, including House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.), to delay the vote.
The full funding level was supported by three commissioners and opposed by two, including Harold Furchtgott-Roth, who told the Associated Press, “Every billion dollars of direct fees is $10 per household, per year in America,” adding that customers “pay for it through higher phone rates.” However, Kennard countered that “We can’t afford to leave poor kids in America in the dark ages.”
Over 32,000 applications already have been filed for the program’s second year, which begins July 1. Demand is expected to exceed the available $2.25 billion.
Posted May 31, 1999.
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