Where the Puck is Going: The Close of the ACP and Coming USF Reform

I recently testified at a Senate Communications Subcommittee Hearing in support of legislation to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). After the hearing I received ten questions on my testimony about affordable broadband from Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-TX). The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society has kindly published my answers, which are much longer and more detailed than the usual answers to such questions. In this wrap-up, I want to summarize my answers and explain why I answered as I did.  The sad and simple truth is that the ACP, despite valiant efforts by many, is not likely to be extended by this Congress.  Further, whatever the fate of the multiple ACP extension legislation efforts, they are all short-term in impact.  We need Congress and the FCC to think about what our country is trying to accomplish long-term with the Universal Service Fund (USF) program.  Therefore, I wanted to provide answers that didn’t just address the ACP but also laid down some markers for the inevitable debate we must have about USF reform. I tried to stress above all else that Congress should skate where the puck is going, not where it is or where it was in the past. The metaphor is not mine, of course, it belongs to hockey great Wayne Gretzky trying to explain how his approach to the game differed from his peers.  But it has been a North Star to guide all of the successful policy initiatives I have been involved in. Here are some of the key principles I hope underly the upcoming debate.

[Blair Levin is the Policy Advisor to New Street Research and a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Metro​.]