S.Amdt. 2575

SA 2575. Mr. CRAMER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 2499 proposed by Mr. McConnell to the bill S. 178, to
condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic Muslims in
Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary detention, torture, and
harassment of these communities inside and outside China; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ___. KEEPING CRITICAL CONNECTIONS EMERGENCY FUND.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Keeping Critical Connections Act of 2020''.
(b) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Communications Commission;
(2) the term ``covered program'' means a program
established by a small business broadband provider under
which the small business broadband provider, at any time
during the COVID-19 emergency period, voluntarily--
(A) provides a customer with free or discounted broadband
service, or free upgrades of existing service to meet certain
capacity and speed needs, due specifically to the presence of
a student in the household of the customer who needs distance
learning capability; or
(B) refrains from disconnecting broadband service provided
to an existing customer due to nonpayment or underpayment if
the customer--
(i) has a household income, at the time of the nonpayment
or underpayment, that does not exceed 135 percent of the
Federal poverty guidelines (as determined by the Secretary of
Health and Human Services);
(ii) is unable to make a full payment due specifically to
the economic impact of the national emergency described in
paragraph (3); and
(iii) provides sufficient documentation to the provider to
show that the customer meets the criteria under clauses (i)
and (ii);
(3) the term ``COVID-19 emergency period'' means the period
during which the national emergency declaration by the
President under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601
et seq.) with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
19) is in effect; and
(4) the term ``small business broadband provider'' means a
broadband provider that provides broadband service to fewer
than 500,000 customers.
(c) Funding.--
(1) Appropriation.--Out of any funds in the Treasury not
otherwise appropriated, there is appropriated to the
Commission $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, to remain
available until expended, to reimburse small business
broadband providers for the costs of carrying out a covered
program.
(2) Rules.--The Commission shall promulgate rules on an
expedited basis, and without regard to section 553 of title
5, United States Code, regarding the provision of
reimbursements to small business broadband providers under
paragraph (1).
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