Even as Clinton took to the podium calling for new initatives to bridge the digital divide between information and poor children, four members of the Senate and House Commerce Committees have warned the FCC that its school-subsidy internet program must cease. The warning follows charges levied by AT&T and MCI on residential customers. The carriers say they are merely passing on their share of the school-wiring subsidy. Consumers’ phone bills are set to increase, said the senators and congressmen, drawn from both parties, in a letter to FCC chair William Kennard. This is not what we intended when Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
