Legislation

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) unveiled the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act, which contains more than 100 bipartisan bills and puts the 2024 Farm Bill back on track to being signed into law by the end of 2024. The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act reflects more than two years of bipartisan work on the Senate Agriculture Committee and incorporates more than 100 bipartisan bills and the work of Senators on and off the Committee.

Congress included the ACCESS BROADBAND Act in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and established the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) within the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). On April 30, OICG released its annual report detailing the office's work for 2023. OICG administers broadband programs created by both the Consolidated Appropriations Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Four interconnected core pillars drive OICG’s initiatives, strategy, and key accomplishments:

Figuring out what you’ll actually pay for your home internet service each month has often been like trying to follow a recipe with an incomplete list of ingredients. There’s the advertised price, but what will you pay after the promotional period ends? What about the cost for the modem you have to rent?

When the internet was new, people talked a lot about long-haul networks in the United States. That’s because a lot of the early data centers were on the East and West coasts, and they needed to be connected. These days long-haul networks are largely overshadowed by last mile builds. There’s a lot of existing long-haul and middle-mile fiber that can be patched together to create the desired routes for any business.

At least two senators are demanding that a program subsidizing high-speed internet for lower-income families be extended as part of the airline safety bill making its way through the Senate. Sen J.D.

On May 1, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote to Congressional leaders with a final update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). April was the last month of full funding for the program, which will fully exhaust during May without additional funding from Congress. "If additional funding is not promptly appropriated, the one in six households nationwide that rely on this program will face rising bills and increasing disconnection.

Slowing growth in the market for telecommunications services appears to be putting additional pressure on network operators in the US. Mergers and acquisitions are on the rise. Layoffs appear to be accelerating.

On May 2, the Senate will hold a hearing on “The Future of Broadband Affordability.” The Affordability Connectivity Program (ACP) that provides subsidies for more than 20 million low-income households will expire in May. Without the extension, these families will see the cost of the internet service increase by up to $30 per month and prompt some families to drop internet service altogether.

Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced the Promoting Affordable Connectivity Act which would sustainably fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) by removing it from the appropriations process and incorporating it into Universal Service Fund (USF) distribution. The ACP has provided discounts on internet service to more than 23 million households—including over 700,000 in Pennsylvania—that could not otherwise afford it.

More than 23 million low-income American households will soon see a new line item in monthly expense statements: prohibitively expensive internet bills. For some, the new cost will eat into other essential areas of their budget—for others, it will mean going without the internet altogether. While the federal price tag for monthly internet subsidies under the Affordable Connectivity Program comes to $8.4 billion annually, our research indicates that, for low-income communities, the economic impact of losing the ACP will be more than twice that.