digital equity
The FCC ordered program administrators to stop taking new enrollees on Feb. 8.
Screenshot of Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2024 – Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have not given up on the Affordable Connectivity Program.
The Senate Commerce Committee announced last night that the panel plans to vote June 12 on a bill that includes $7 billion in new money for the ACP, which ran out of funding on May 31.
The ACP provided 23 million low-income households with $30 monthly discounts on their broadband bills. Residents on Tribal lands received a monthly stipend of $75.
The Senate committee vote would be the third try in recent weeks by Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to pass her Spectrum and National Security Act of 2024, S. 4207.
In a controversial provision, Cantwell’s bill would allow the FCC to borrow money from the U.S. Treasury to fund the ACP. The FCC would repay the loan from revenue generated by future spectrum auctions.
In 2021, Congress provided $14.2 billion to fund the ACP. With money running short, the FCC ordered program administrators to stop taking new enrollees on Feb. 8.
Last week, President Joe Biden called on Congress to provide new money for the ACP. The White House also issued a statement praising 15 Internet Service Providers for volunteering to offer Internet plans at $30 or less a month to low-income households through 2024. The ISPs combined had about 10 million ACP enrollees.
Cantwell’s bill would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority (which lapsed on March 9, 2023) and include $3 billion to fund the Rip and Replace Program, which pays for the removal of Chinese Huawei and ZTE equipment from telecommunications networks.
Many broadband ISPs have sought and received FCC extensions largely because Congress underfunded Rip and Replace.
