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AMSTERDAM, NY—Congressman Paul D. Tonko has sent a stinging letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai detailing the agency’s chronic failures to correctly map and support New York households with limited broadband access. The letter includes testimonials from dozens of teachers, students, parents and small business owners across NY-20 who are struggling as a result of being unable to access broadband internet, and, in particular, whose hardships have become exacerbated due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

“Whether we rely on it to bridge gaps in educating our students, getting needed health services, creating economic and job opportunities or simply improving quality of life, broadband access is a required resource for maintaining our lives during this extended crisis,” Congressman Tonko said. “Unfortunately, despite having sufficient funding and authority to respond, the FCC continues to ignore New Yorkers and evade responsibility leaving many in our Capital Region without broadband internet access. I have already heard from concerned parents whose kids can’t access their online classrooms, small business owners losing revenue because they can’t connect with customers or vendors, and from vulnerable populations cut off from life-saving telehealth services. These examples are a fraction of those impacted in our state. The FCC must act swiftly to right their enduring failures here and take immediate steps to improve and expand broadband access to those underserved New Yorkers whom they have chronically and systematically ignored for years.”

Over the course of several years, Congressman Tonko has led the charge to improve broadband access in the region and across the nation, oftentimes in opposition to the FCC. Earlier this year, Tonko celebrated the reversal of the FCC to rule New York State ineligible for $16 billion in federal Phase I Rural Digital Opportunity Fund grants, a decision reached due to protests voiced by Tonko outlining the needs of New Yorkers. In 2017, he led a bipartisan effort helping to secure $170 million in federal funds to expand broadband and high-speed internet service across New York State.

Last year, Tonko celebrated the passage of his ACCESS BROADBAND Act, which would help expand broadband access in underserved areas and create a simpler process for small businesses and local economic developers to access federal broadband resources.

Most recently, he joined in introducing the House Democratic Plan to Connect All Americans to Affordable Broadband Internet for the Coronavirus stimulus response, an updated version of the broadband provisions of House Democrats’ Moving America Forward Framework.

The full text of the letter can be found HERE.

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