UPDATE “We’ve come too far to turn back,” said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez during a rally about the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in Washington, D.C. yesterday. The rally was held to draw attention to the fact that the ACP is running out of money and today, May 1, marks the first day the subsidies for providers and recipients are less.
The maximum reimbursement for non-Tribal households drops from $30 to between $7 and $16 this month. The Tribal benefit drops from $75 to between $18 and $39. If Congress doesn’t re-fund the program, the funds run out in June.
Citing the 23 million households enrolled in the low-cost internet connectivity program, Gomez said “closing the digital divide is within our reach.” Without ACP, BEAD dollars will not go as far, she said. That may mean some providers don’t use BEAD subsidies to bring broadband to some communities.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said speakers were “ringing that alarm bell to raise awareness to help bring that final push so we can get this program funded. The ACP is the most effective program we’ve ever had to get people connected and keeping them connected to crack the digital divide.”
Starks mentioned comments from people he’s met with around the country about the ACP. A mother of four in Chicago told him the ACP kept her children from falling behind in their coursework. “Am I going to need to eat less food to continue affording internet?” she asked.
At a different rally in New York, Starks said a group of senior citizens stood behind the speakers and chanted “And that ain’t right!” He explained: “We have young learners who are going to have to go back to those McDonalds parking lots” to do their homework, he said. “That ain’t right!,” the crowd chanted yesterday.
Speakers cited bills introduced in Congress to fund the ACP. One of those, sponsored by Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), would appropriate $7 billion to keep the FCC program for low-income households to receive discounts for broadband service running through the end of this year, Inside Towers reported. Both Gomez and Starks expressed optimism that Congress would re-fund the program.
The rally was organized by consumer groups Public Knowledge, Civic Nation, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Digital Progress Institute, and their media partner Broadband Breakfast.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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