Letter

As Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, we write urging you to include $6 billion needed to replenish the highly popular and effective Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in any government funding package, as requested by President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 emergency supplemental funding proposal. Established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the ACP is a true bipartisan public policy success story.

As Governors from across the country, we urge you to work collaboratively with the Biden Administration to ensure that a key tool in our joint efforts to bridge the digital divide—the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—receives additional funding. It is essential that people do not lose access to the internet that this vital program has allowed them to gain. There is broad agreement across the political spectrum that affordable high-speed internet is a necessity in today’s world, whether it’s for education, work or health care.

We write in response to your recently circulated Draft Order on “Digital Discrimination” that would turn section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into a sweeping mandate for heavy-handed Internet regulation and expose every nook and cranny of the broadband business to liability under a “disparate impact” standard. Your Draft Order, which largely follows a Biden administration diktat, will create crippling uncertainty for the U.S. broadband industry, chill broadband investment, and undermine Congress’s objective of promoting broadband access for all Americans.

We, the undersigned groups, write to emphasize the dire need for Congress to pass 6 billion dollars in supplemental funding to sustain the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”) through the end of 2024. As of October 25, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration requested Congress to appropriate emergency funding for critical domestic issues, including $6 billion earmarked for ACP to ensure eligible households across the country remain connected online.

I write regarding reports from my home state—the commonwealth of Pennsylvania—of payment issues with the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). As my colleagues and I work to find long-term funding solutions for ACP, both the FCC and companies that administer and benefit from ACP must do right by Americans who rely on the it. I’ve heard from constituents across the commonwealth that some of these households have encountered issues receiving their benefits. Specifically, some service providers are requiring that users show proof of one month of service before qualifying for the discount.

On April 25, 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled “Broadband Speed: FCC Should Improve its Communication of Advanced Telecommunications Capability Assessments.” The report examines the extent to which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has communicated how it reviews its minimum fixed-broadband speed benchmark, and how it determines whether to update the benchmark, and the extent to which the minimum speed requirements of selected federal and state broadband programs differ from the FCC’s benchmark, and stakeholders’ views on any implications

On October 17, 2023, Republican Members of the House Commerce Committee wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing their disappointment and opposition to the FCC opening a proceeding to reclassify fixed and mobile broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. On October 31, Chairwoman Rosenworcel replied saying "Everyone, everywhere in this country needs access to broadband to have a fair shot at 21st century success...

As Members of the New York delegation, we are writing to urge you to allocate $7 billion for the critical Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) via a manager amendment when the fiscal year 2024 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill is brought to the House floor or through any emergency supplemental appropriations package taken up by Congress.

As members of the New Democrat Coalition, we write to advocate for the inclusion of $6 billion in additional funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in any government funding package, to reflect the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 emergency supplemental funding request. The ACP provides critical financial assistance to help American households afford broadband internet services. Access to high-speed and affordable broadband is vital to participating in our 21st-century economy.

We write to urge the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to make the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program more accessible to unconnected regions across the country by considering alternatives to the program’s irrevocable standby Letter of Credit (LOC) requirement. One alternative to the LOC requirement is the use of performance bonds, which are commonly used in construction projects.