Lawmakers are making a last-minute plea to save the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) as it begins to wind down this week, leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their subsidized internet service.
The ACP is the nation’s largest broadband affordability program, providing eligible households a discount of up to $30 per month on their internet bills, and up to $75 for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Twenty-three million U.S. households participate in the program.
However, May marks the final month that ACP households will receive any broadband discount as Federal funding for the program runs out. During this last month, millions of households will receive only a partial subsidy on their internet bills and some will receive no discount at all if their internet provider opts out.
According to a recent study by the FCC, more than three-quarters of surveyed ACP households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or lose internet service entirely.
“The time is now to save this program,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. – chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband – said during a subcommittee hearing on Thursday.
“It would be a significant waste of government funds to let this program lapse,” the senator said. “It would mean letting all the time and resources the Federal government and our state and local partners have put into standing up the program and enrolling 23 million households go to waste.”
There are proposals on the table to save the ACP, such as the bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., JD Vance, R-Ohio, Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., introduced the bill in the Senate back in January – when the FCC first notified customers that the program would be ending. Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced the bill in the House.
Many members of the subcommittee voiced their support for the legislation during the Thursday hearing, including Chairman Luján, who said the bill would “temporarily fund the program and give Congress time to find a long-term solution.”
However, some Republican members argued that while they’re supportive of the program, it needs some reform and accountability.
For instance, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said that some Americans are eligible for the $30 monthly benefit who don’t actually need it.
“Twenty-three million people really need this. We’ve got to narrow it down to the need,” Sen. Capito said. “I’m supportive of the program … [but] we’ve known this was coming.”
“I don’t know why we have to be pressed now to move forward with a way over-expansive program that is going towards some people that don’t need it, because it’s not fair to the people that do need it,” she stressed.
Nevertheless, Democrats urged Republicans to support a short-term solution for the program while the bipartisan Universal Service Fund Working Group – led by Sen. Luján and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. – continues to work on a long-term solution.
“I agree that those of us who advocate for our program have an obligation to kick the tires, check it out, and make reforms so that the intended purpose is what’s being served and it’s not being gamed,” said Sen. Welch. “So, I for one, [as] a strong proponent of the Affordable Connectivity program, I pledge to work with my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to make it better – but we’re not there yet. And what we can’t do, Mr. Chairman, as you so assertively state, is let this expire because there are 4 million veterans who depend on this [and] there are a lot of seniors who depend on it.”
“My hope, Mr. Chairman, is that all of us work hard together to try to get at least a short-term fix while the work you’re doing leading the working group comes up with a longer-term solution,” he added. “But I also want to express my enormous apprehension that this Congress may fail by letting this expire rather than continue it while we work out the long-term changes.”
