On October 15, 2026, 111 members of Congress sent a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr asking the FCC to withdraw proposals that would eliminate the E-rate program or limit it to rural areas. The signers include 46 senators and 65 members of the House. Senator Edward J. Markey’s office published the letter.
Here is what this means for you right now: nothing changes today. No rules have been changed, no deadlines have moved, and no new requirements apply. Your funding requests, your competitive bidding, and your day-to-day E-rate obligations continue exactly as they did before.
The members of Congress’ letter comes in response to the FCC’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which asks a broad set of questions about where E-rate goes from here: how large the program should be, who should be eligible, whether E-rate should be used to limit student screen time, and whether the Children’s Internet Protection Act should be read more expansively than it is today. Congress’ letter notes that E-rate “remains one of the federal government’s clearest universal-service successes,” and that “E-Rate is not a legacy program whose work is finished.”
Calling the NPRM “the latest step in a broader FCC campaign to weaken E-Rate,” the members of Congress “strongly support measures to protect children online and address concerns around excessive screen time,” but assert that the E-rate program is not the appropriate avenue for addressing screen time concerns.
You can read the full letter on Senator Markey’s site.
Reply comments to the FCC’s NPRM are due November 12, 2026. If you have questions about what this means for you, contact your E-rate Guide.