II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 979 

To amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 to authorize additional 

funds for the Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund, to provide 

grants to States and Tribal entities to strengthen the National Lifeline 

Eligibility Verifier, to provide for Federal coordination between the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier and the National Accuracy Clearinghouse, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 25, 2021 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

WARNOCK, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 to 

authorize additional funds for the Emergency Broadband 

Connectivity Fund, to provide grants to States and Tribal entities to strengthen the National Lifeline Eligibility 

Verifier, to provide for Federal coordination between the 

National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier and the National 

Accuracy Clearinghouse, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

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1 SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR 

2 THE EMERGENCY BROADBAND 

3 CONNECTIVITY FUND. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Emer5 gency Broadband Connectivity Fund established under 

6 subsection (i) of section 904 of title IX of division N of 

7 the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 

8 116–260) $6,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 for the pur9 poses described in paragraph (3) of such subsection, and 

10 such amount is authorized to remain available until fiscal 

11 year 2026. 

12 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATES TO STRENGTHEN NATIONAL 

13 LIFELINE ELIGIBILITY VERIFIER. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

16 establish a program to provide a grant, from amounts ap17 propriated under subsection (d), to each eligible entity for 

18 the purpose described under subsection (b). 

19 (b) PURPOSE.—The Commission shall make a grant 

20 to each eligible entity for the purpose of establishing or 

21 amending a connection between the databases of such en22 tity that contain information concerning the receipt by a 

23 household, or a member of a household, of benefits under 

24 a program administered by such entity (including any ben25 efit provided under the supplemental nutrition assistance 

26 program under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 

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1 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)) and the National Lifeline Eligibility 

2 Verifier so that the receipt by a household, or a member 

3 of a household, of benefits under such benefits program— 

4 (1) is reflected in the National Lifeline Eligi5 bility Verifier; and 

6 (2) can be used to verify eligibility for— 

7 (A) the Lifeline program established under 

8 subpart E, part 54, of title 47, Code of Federal 

9 Regulations (or any successor regulation); and 

10 (B) the Emergency Broadband Benefit 

11 Program established under section 904(b) of 

12 title IX of division N of the Consolidated Ap13 propriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260). 

14 (c) DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT FUNDS.—Not later 

15 than 60 days after the program established under sub16 section (a) is established, funds provided under each grant 

17 made under such subsection shall be disbursed to the enti18 ty receiving such grant. 

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There are 

20 authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 for fiscal year 

21 2022 for the purposes of carrying out this section, and 

22 such amount is authorized to remain available until fiscal 

23 year 2026. 

24 (e) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this section, the term 

25 ‘‘eligible entity’’ means an entity that— 

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1 (1) is a State or Tribal entity; and 

2 (2) not later than 30 days after the date of the 

3 enactment of this Act, submits to the Commission 

4 an application containing such information as the 

5 Commission may require. 

6 SEC. 3. FEDERAL COORDINATION BETWEEN NATIONAL ELI7 GIBILITY VERIFIER AND NATIONAL ACCU8 RACY CLEARINGHOUSE. 

9 Notwithstanding section 11(x)(2)(C)(i) of the Food 

10 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(x)(2)(C)(i)), 

11 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

12 of this Act, the Commission shall, in coordination with the 

13 Secretary of Agriculture, establish an automated connec14 tion, to the maximum extent practicable, between the Na15 tional Lifeline Eligibility Verifier and the National Accu16 racy Clearinghouse established under section 11(x) of the 

17 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(x)) for 

18 the supplemental nutrition assistance program. 

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) AUTOMATED CONNECTION.—The term 

22 ‘‘automated connection’’ means a connection be23 tween two or more information systems where the 

24 manual input of information in one system leads to 

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1 the automatic input of the same information into 

2 any other connected system. 

3 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

4 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

5 (3) NATIONAL LIFELINE ELIGIBILITY

6 VERIFIER.—The term ‘‘National Lifeline Eligibility 

7 Verifier’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

8 54.400 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or 

9 any successor regulation). 

10 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean11 ing given such term in section 3 of the Communica12 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

13 (5) TRIBAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Tribal entity’’ 

14 means any of the following: 

15 (A) The governing body of any Indian or 

16 Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, vil17 lage, community, component band, or compo18 nent reservation, individually recognized (in19 cluding parenthetically) in the list published 

20 most recently as of the date of enactment of 

21 this Act pursuant to section 104 of the Feder22 ally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 

23 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 

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1 (B) The Department of Hawaiian Home 

2 Lands. 

Æ