{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=919", "Bergman Bill: Make Big Tech Pay Into Rural Broadband", "2021-08-03", "2021", "2021-08", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Jack Bergman", "B001301", "bergman.house.gov", "bergman", "https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, Rep. Jack Bergman introduced new legislation called the Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act to require Big Tech companies to finance rural broadband programs. The bill also calls for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider other ways to alleviate burdens on consumers without access to broadband services.\n\n\u201cBig Tech has been leeching off of key federal connectivity programs which bring more users to their platforms each day. It\u2019s past time for the tech giants to chip in for federal broadband efforts while rural and remote communities in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula continue to lack sufficient internet access,\u201d said Rep. Bergman. \u201cRight now, working families struggling without meaningful connectivity are paying more into the Universal Service Fund than tech giants \u2013 so I\u2019ve introduced the Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act to right this wrong.\u201d\n\nThe FCC\u2019s Universal Service Fund (USF) finances roughly $9 billion worth of broadband support for rural areas, telehealth, schools and libraries, and low-income households each year. The USF is replenished by FCC fees on telecommunications carriers, which are usually passed on to their customers through phone bills.\n\nThe FCC collects fees from these carriers because they benefit from FCC services. Since the USF brings more consumers online access, Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook greatly benefit from FCC services as well, but they are not subject to these same fees.\n\nTo address this, the Big Tech Accountability for Broadband Act will specifically direct the FCC to levy fees on Big Tech companies for the purpose of funding the USF. This bill will also require the FCC to consider in its rulemaking a way to exempt telecommunications carrier customers from having to pay USF charges on their bills if the customer does not have access to broadband.\n\nYou can read the bill here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:11:17Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=919"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7550898008048534, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}