Broadband for All Resolution of 2020
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Broadband for All Resolution of 2020
This resolution recognizes that equal access to affordable and reliable broadband service for all Americans is a civil and human right that protects and promotes the fair, equal, and impartial treatment of all people. It also asserts that affordable broadband access enables the promotion and propagation of human rights, recognizes that this access promotes equal access for engagement in democracy, and reaffirms that the global and open nature of the internet is a driving force in progress toward development.
Further, the resolution calls on the President to (1) preserve and build upon the technological leadership of the federal government and federal funding opportunities to provide all Americans with affordable broadband access, (2) ensure tribal sovereignty over access to electromagnetic spectrum on tribal lands, and (3) address the civil and human rights threats posed by a lack of affordable access to broadband in light of the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 23, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
A simple resolution is the business of a single chamber. The House can adopt it on its own, and it is never sent to the other chamber or to the President.
The record's latest action, on September 23, 2020: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
- A vote of the House
What is a simple resolution, exactly?
A simple resolution concerns one chamber only, such as its own rules or an expression of its opinion. The other chamber and the President play no part, and it does not carry the force of law.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Debra Haaland (D-NM) introduced it on September 23, 2020, and 6 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 6 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 23, 2020, 2178 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2178 days ago, on September 23, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
That deadline applies to this measure too, even though it was never headed for the President's desk.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers