Today, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) proposed a new bill, called the Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression (PRESS) Act, that would protect journalists’ data records from being seized by the government. This comes several months after the Justice Department admitted that it acquired phone and email records from reporters at The Washington Post, CNN and the New York Times in order to identify sources.

Wyden said in a statement that there needed to be rules “protecting reporters from government surveillance” and that it should be “written into black-letter law.” He said: “The Trump administration spied on reporters it suspected of no crimes in its hunt to identify their sources and prevent the American people from learning the truth about Trump’s lawlessness and corruption.”

Even though Biden’s DOJ had initially defended the use of subpoenas, the president soon said it was wrong, putting a stop to the practice. Attorney General Merrick Garland had also requested new rules be put in place around cases involving reporters. He also met with executives from the aforementioned three news organizations to discuss the situation.

While most states have some form of shield law for reporters, the federal government does not. One of the problems with prior attempts at this legislation had to do with how a journalist is defined plus what kind of activities should be protected. A federal law, for example, would have to figure out how to safeguard journalist’s privacy while also protecting national security interests. 

Wyden’s bill proposes that journalists be shielded from court-ordered disclosures of sources, but allows for exceptions if the information would prevent terrorism, identify terrorists, or if it would prevent violence or death.

A new bill aims to make high-speed internet more accessible everywhere in the US, including far-flung locations and underserved communities. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn has introduced the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (PDF), which will spend $94 billion to ensure that unserved and persistent poverty communities have access to affordable high-speed internet. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chairperson of the Senate Broadband Caucus, has also introduced the bill in the Senate.

Out of its total budget, $80 billion will be spent on deploying broadband infrastructure nationwide, while prioritizing unserved and underserved rural, suburban and urban areas. Providers whose networks were built from that money will then be required to offer affordable plans to consumers. The bill will also authorize the spending of $5 billion over five years on a new program that would provide low-interest financing for broadband infrastructure build out projects. The Emergency Broadband Benefit, which provides a $50 monthly discount on internet plans for low-income Americans and $75 for customers on tribal lands, will get an additional $6 billion in funding. $2 billion will go to the Emergency Connectivity Fund for students that need internet connection, and a portion of the money will also go towards funding for WiFi on school buses. 

In the lawmakers' announcement, they said the legislation was a product of extensive collaboration between Clyburn's House Rural Broadband Task Force, Chairman Frank Pallone of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senator Klobuchar. 

Clyburn said in a statement:

"Access to broadband today will have the same dramatic impact on rural communities as the rural electrification efforts in the last century. When I formed the Rural Broadband Task Force, our mission was to address the digital divide. The disparate effects of that divide have been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic and exposed the urgency of ensuring universal access to high-speed internet. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to enact the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act."