Level of Government

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.

Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AK) introduced new legislation to keep kids off social media and help protect them from its harmful impacts. The Kids Off Social Media Act updates legislation Schatz introduced last spring and would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media platforms and prevent social media companies from feeding algorithmically-targeted content to users under the age of 17.

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.

The House of Representatives passed the Privacy Enhancing Technology Research Act, 354 to 36. Privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) are a broad range of technologies that allow organizations to collect, share, and use data while mitigating the privacy risks that arise from those activities. This legislation, introduced by Rep Haley Stevens (D-MI) and co-led by Rep Tom Kean, Jr.

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.

May 1 begins the final month that Affordable Connectivity Program households will receive any benefit on their internet bills. Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of Americans will see their internet bills go up or lose internet access at the end of this month.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is expected to play a role in the Biden administration’s $42 billion program to bring high-speed internet to every American home, as Washington comes up against some hard math in its effort to build networks reaching the most remote corners of the nation. The growing discussion of using Starlink to fill in coverage gaps is an acknowledgment of just how expensive and challenging it would be to run new internet cables up every mountain and down every valley nationwide.