Don’t Pull the Plug on Our Veterans

In today’s world, connectivity is essential to our daily lives. For more than 750,000 veterans across the United States, this connectivity is all made possible thanks to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—and unless Congress funds this essential program, those veterans will be cut off by Spring. The program has been instrumental in keeping more than 21 million households connected across the U.S. and 2.5 million veterans are eligible. Unfortunately, funds are expected to run out by April 2024, leaving our communities and veteran populations suddenly without access. Our organization, VetsinTech, provides current and returning veterans with reintegration services and connects them to the national technology ecosystem. We bring together a tech-specific network, resources and programs for our veterans interested in what we call the 3Es—education, entrepreneurship and employment. If 750,000 of them are suddenly disconnected, we can’t reach them and neither can anyone else. It is unthinkable that Congress would allow critical connectivity to our veterans to lapse. Fully funding the ACP is the least we can do and Congress must act now.

[Michael McNerney is a technology entrepreneur and military veteran with a primary focus on cybersecurity. He currently works as the Chief Operations Officer of cybersecurity insurance startup Resilience Previously, he led the threat intelligence business at Arbor Networks.]