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The Honorable Ajit Pai 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 121h Street SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Pai: 
February 22, 2017 
We are writing to urge the FCC to include a tribal bidding credit in its Connect America Fund 
(CAF) Phase II Reverse Auction Order, which we understand is on the agenda for the February 
23 Open Meeting. This credit is critically needed to encourage broadband deployment in Indian 
Country, the most unserved and underserved regions in our nation in terms of broadband access. 
CAF II has the potential to be a game changer for Native Americans across our nation, but it 
needs structural support from the FCC to see this realized. 
The Connect America Fund is the FCC's primary program to expand access to broadband and 
voice services in unserved and underserved areas of our country. Chief among these areas are 
tribal lands, where 68 percent of rural areas lack access to broadband internet services. High 
poverty rates, lack of infrastructure, and oftentimes rugged terrain all contribute to the increased 
cost of installing, maintaining, and upgrading broadband infrastructure on tribal lands. 
Our nation has a trust responsibility to ensure the cultural survival, well-being, and sovereignty 
of tribes and tribal members. Broadband services are critical to fulfilling this trust responsibility, 
connecting Native youth in the classroom, improving access to health care services through 
telemedicine, and enabling tribal members to pursue higher education using online resources. 
Our treatment of tribes in the past has created some of the greatest disparities of any cultural 
group in our nation; we have a responsibility to tum course and finally honor our treaty and trust 
obligations of our forefathers. 
Without a tribal bidding credit, Indian Country will continue to fall behind in access to 
broadband and telephone services as providers build out other lower cost rural areas. Past 
incentives, such as the bidding credit included in the Mobility Fund and Rural Broadband 
Experiments have proven successful at fostering investment on tribal lands. Therefore we urge 
you to include a tribal bidding credit in any updated CAF bidding rule Order approved by the 
Commission. 
Sincerely 
ember of Congress (CA-36) 
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Tom Cole 
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Darren Soto 
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Ro Khanna 
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Earl Blumenauer