This week, the Senate voted to shutter a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program that provides free internet for low-income children, which could risk cutting them off from tools they need to do homework.As Ars Technica reports, the GOP-controlled Senate voted along party lines to repeal the late Biden-era initiative that lends out free Wi-Fi hotspots to schools so that kids who lack internet access at home can get connected.In a statement announcing the repeal vote, senator Ted Cruz called the program "illegal, harmful to children, duplicative of other government programs, and a blatant overreach" that would undermine parents' ability to monitor their kids' internet activities.Those on the other side of the aisle, however, see it quite differently."It would be a disgrace if we deprive those students and their families of this vast resource, of literally life-changing access to a really necessary service that helps them not just now but throughout their futures," said senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, after voting against the repeal. "We ought to expand Internet access, not constrict it. We ought to be enhancing it, not cutting it off."As Blumenthal noted, Cruz's resolution, if it passes the House of Representatives and is signed into law by president Donald Trump, will also bar the FCC from instating similar programs in the future, thus restricting such access in perpetuity."Are schools and teachers crying out to repeal this rule? Really? No, they are not," the Connecticut Democrat said. "How does this proposal make any sense for them or for families? For the parents? For the community? It makes no sense."Indeed, the rationale behind the repeal — an "overreach" for the government to give poor kids internet access because of some vague concerns about what they might find browsing the internet unsupervised — completely ignores the reality that most homework requires use of the web.Instead of offering any alternative suggestions as to how kids without internet access at home can get their schoolwork done, however, Cruz and his fellow travelers seem only to be interested in keeping the so-called "homework gap" open under the pretense of child safety.With a sister bill already having been filed in the GOP-dominant House earlier this year, there's a very good chance this resolution will make it to the president's desk and, ultimately, be signed into law — and American schoolkids will suffer for years because of it.More on draconian cuts: Trump Admin Cancels Programs to Protect Children From Toxic ChemicalsShare This Article