The House plans to check a big defense-spending bill next week that puts $3 billion towards getting rid of Chinese-made network stuff. This money helps US phone companies take out gear from Huawei and ZTE (companies that make folks nervous about security)
The super-long bill (which came out Dec 7th) doesnt just stop there: it wants reports about how China gets around US rules‚ plus it needs smart people to look at Chinaʼs bio-tech skills. The FCC says fixing everything costs about $5 billion but they only got $1.9B before — thats why they need more cash
Rural areas might get hit hard if this dont work out. Jessica Rosenworcel from FCC says its a big deal: some places could lose their only phone service provider which means no 911 calls in some spots. About 126 different companies need help fixing their networks; theyre all waiting for money
The whole thing started back in 19ʼ when Congress told companies that get govt money they had to get rid of Chinese stuff. The White House asked for $3.1B last year to help out. Maria Cantwell says theyll get money from selling some air-wave rights (its called AWS-3 spectrum) to pay for everything including $500M for tech spots in different areas
We desperately need this funding to keep millions of Americans connected while removing covered equipment