Upcoming policy issue

February 8 marked the Affordable Connectivity Program’s enrollment freeze as the Federal Communications Commission prepares for it to run out of money in April. This is happening as ACP hit a major milestone—connecting 23 million households to get affordable, reliable access to America’s Excellent Internet. New stats from the White House show the true scope of the ACP’s impact:

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) exists to help Americans of all stripes get and stay connected to America’s Excellent Internet. But for millions around the country, Internet access and a device alone aren’t enough to close the digital divide. Digital skills and tech support services offered through a trusted community organization is critical to solving this puzzle—just ask  US Army veteran Bobby Jenks. After leaving the service as a decorated peacetime soldier, Bobby worked as a truck driver for 20 years until an accident left him unable to continue his trucking career.

A group of lawmakers is making a major push to extend a key internet subsidy program in their upcoming government spending talks, part of a last-ditch effort to head off a lapse in funding. In recent days, top Democratic lawmakers and officials at the Federal Communications Commission have held numerous rallies calling for the $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP, to receive a new round of appropriations from Congress. The ACP “allowed some 23 million low-income households to receive discounts on their internet bills of up to $30 a month,” or higher for tribal lands.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) well is about to run dry, but some analysts remain hopeful that the program may be able to secure additional funding. As the saying goes: it ain't over till it's over. To be sure, the odds are still favoring ACP funds running out, New Street Research’s Blair Levin said.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) helps 23 million American households afford the internet. But on February 8, the program began winding down due to a lack of funding. New households no longer can enroll. Soon, current households will confront a choice between bill shock and disconnection. We cannot let this happen. The ACP is the most effective program we’ve had in helping low-income Americans get online and stay online. Indeed, it has been the most successful program ever in our decades-long bipartisan effort to solve the digital divide.

The digital inclusion program manager of a program to get people online warned during a press conference that if the Affordable Connectivity Program ends and later resumes, tens of millions of  beneficiaries may have to manually re-enroll. Leslie Scott, digital inclusion program manager of KC Digital Drive, raised the concerns in a press conference hosted by advocates of renewing the ACP. Scott said that, during a Federal Communications Commission listening session, she and other observers were informed that if the ACP restarts after shutting down, 23 million program participants might have

Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for urgent congressional action to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program provides eligible households with a discount on their monthly internet bills. Currently, 338,000 New Jersey families are benefiting from the program, including nearly 24,000 households in Rep Pallone’s Congressional district.

The Federal Communications Commission last updated its speed benchmarks for advanced telecommunications capability in January 2015; since then our online lives have changed dramatically, so the Commission’s coming action is welcome and overdue. The new benchmark aligns the FCC standard with the bar set by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched a Request for Comment on the risks, benefits and potential policy related to advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models with widely available model weights—the core component of AI systems. These “open-weight” models allow developers to build upon and adapt previous work, broadening AI tools’ availability to small companies, researchers, nonprofits, and individuals.

In 2021, Congress created the Affordable Connectivity Program, a program that is helping eligible low-income households afford high-speed internet, and allowing them to stay connected with family, work, healthcare resources, and more. The program provides a discount of up to $30.00 per month toward internet service.