Millions of Americans could lose internet aid months before the 2024 election

Washington is battling over whether to keep the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) going — potentially cutting off more than 22 million households from a subsidy they’ve come to rely on. The ACP launched with bipartisan support in 2020, but is now trapped in a partisan war between Democrats who want to renew it, and Republicans worried it will let President Joe Biden take too much of a victory lap during a campaign year. If Congress can’t find a way to fund the program by spring, the federal government will have to quickly unwind it. A failure could also come with political consequences at a critical time ahead of 2024, giving voters in swing states a cause for frustration at politicians yanking away aid. The Biden administration has kept up an active recruitment campaign, pledging to add all eligible families to the program. In 2022, White House infrastructure adviser Mitch Landrieu declared that more sign-ups would make it “much harder” for Congress to let the program die. But the more people enroll, the more will be affected if the funding runs out.