WASHINGTON — Twenty-three million households in the US will see higher internet bills starting in May. That’s because a federal broadband subsidy program they are participating in is running out of money.
Dozens of people joined administration officials, Biden advocates and U.S. Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, at a Washington public library on Tuesday to make a last-ditch plea for an extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program, a grant which was created by Congress and touted by President Joe Biden as part of his push to bring internet access to every American household. The program, which expires at the end of May, helps people with limited resources pay their broadband bills.
“They need access to high-speed internet, just like they need access to electricity,” Senator Welch told the meeting. “This is what is needed in a modern economy.”
The Affordable Connectivity Program, which Congress created with $14.2 billion through the bipartisan infrastructure bill, provided eligible households with a $30 per month subsidy to help pay their internet bills. Households on tribal lands received up to $75.
That aid will be reduced starting in May, when enrolled households will receive only partial credits for their internet bills. Barring any action by Congress to provide more money to the Affordable Connectivity Program, the subsidies will end entirely at the end of the month.
“We’re out of money,” FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said at the event hosted by a group called Public Knowledge, a nonprofit that advocates for broadband access. “Many households will face a difficult choice: face rising internet bills or disconnect them and their households from the internet.”
Nearly 80 percent of households enrolled in the program said they would have to switch to a lower plan or cancel their internet service altogether without the benefit, according to a survey conducted by the FCC in late 2023. Many have come to rely on access to the internet to do homework, work from home and meet other basic needs.
“It’s not about whether we can find the money,” Senator Welch said. “It’s about: Are we committed to the priority and well-being of truly great people who are struggling?”
Welch and other lawmakers from both political parties introduced legislation earlier this year to extend the program by $7 billion through the end of the year. The White House has pushed for an extension, but so far that has not happened.
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Harjai is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.