The White House is pushing Congress to expand a subsidy program that helps one in six American families afford internet access. The program represents a key element of President Joe Biden’s pledge to deliver reliable broadband service to every American household.
“For President Biden, the internet is like water,” Tom Perez, a senior adviser and assistant to the president, said on a call with reporters on Monday. “It is an essential public necessity that must be affordable and accessible to all.”
The Affordable Connectivity Program offers eligible families discounts on their internet bills: $30 per month for most families and up to $75 per month for families on tribal lands. The one-time $14.2 billion infusion for the program through the bipartisan infrastructure bill is expected to run out of money by the end of April.
“Just as we would not turn off the water lines at a time like this, we should never turn off the high-speed internet that is the pipeline to opportunity and access to health care for so many people in this country,” Perez said. .
The program has broad support from public advocacy groups, local and state broadband officials, and telecommunications providers large and small.
“We have been very aggressive in our efforts to help our members access the program,” said Gary Johnson, CEO of Paul Bunyan Communications, a Minnesota-based Internet service provider. “Honestly, it was either they had internet or they didn’t. It’s almost no subsidy; it ensures that they can have internet at all.”
Paul Bunyan Communications, a member-owned broadband cooperative serving households in north-central Minnesota, is one of 1,700 participating internet providers that began sending notices last month indicating the program could expire without congressional action .
“It seems to be a bipartisan issue: Internet access and its importance,” Johnson said.
The program serves nearly an equal number of households in Republican and Democratic congressional districts, according to an AP analysis.
Biden has likened his promise of affordable internet to all American households to New Deal-era efforts to bring electricity to much of rural America. Congress approved $65 billion for various broadband-related investments in 2021, including ACP countries, as part of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. He traveled to North Carolina last month to tout its potential benefits, especially in large parts of the country that currently lack access to reliable, affordable internet service.
In addition to the immediate impact on enrolled households, the expiration of the ACS could have a domino effect on the impact of other federal broadband investments and erode trust between consumers and their internet providers.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently introduced a bill to support the ACP with an additional $7 billion in funding through the end of 2024 — a billion more than Biden asked Congress to set aside for the program late last year. However, no votes are scheduled to advance the bill, and it is unclear whether the program will be prioritized in a divided Congress.
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Harjai reported from Los Angeles and 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.