GOP Senators to Biden: Use COVID-19 Dollars to Extend ACP

According to Light Reading and other news outlets, on Tuesday a group of 8 Republican Senators identified for President Biden a stopgap funding source for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP): untapped COVID-19 relief money.

The ACP, which provides eligible households with a $30 monthly subsidy ($75 on Tribal lands) to apply toward their choice of broadband service and up to $100 for a connected device, was created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). Congress filled the ACP's coffers with $14.2 billion on a one-time basis.

Without question, $14.2 billion is a hefty sum. However, given that (1) to date nearly 19 million households have signed up for the ACP, and (2) the FCC continues to encourage consumer participation through outreach grants, that money soon will run out – perhaps as early as the first quarter of 2024.

Accordingly, many have called upon Congress to appropriate additional funds to extend the ACP's lifespan. That group includes Free State Foundation President Randolph May, who urged Congress to "extend it, while mending it" in a Real Clear Markets op-ed published in April of this year.

And in a March 2023 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, Mr. May wrote that:

Congress should extend the worthwhile ACP program promptly by appropriating additional funding. At the same time, it can consider revising the program to better target the ACP benefit to those lower-income households most truly in need and adopting measures to minimize, to the extent possible, any waste, fraud, and abuse in the program.

Notably, the ACP has bipartisan support. In written testimony submitted prior to her participation in an oversight hearing held yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Communications and Technology Subcommittee, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote that "I strongly support funding the Affordable Connectivity Program into the future to help more families get and stay connected to the high- speed internet they need to participate in modern life."

Speaking during that hearing, Chairwoman Rosenworcel reportedly stated that:

As a result of the bipartisan infrastructure law, we've got lots of funds to help with the deployment in largely rural areas, but we're also going to need funds and efforts to address affordability. ACP is the best program we have ever developed to do that, and we've got to make sure it continues.

Earlier this week, Senator Roger Wicker (MS) and 7 of his Republican colleagues reportedly wrote to President Biden to share a novel short-term solution: "repurpose a portion of unobligated emergency COVID relief funds to ensure the continuity of funding for this program, while we explore alternative sustainable funding mechanisms and updated parameters."

Senator Wicker's coauthors include Mike Crapo (ID), Kevin Cramer (ND), Thom Tillis (NC), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), J.D. Vance (OH), James Risch (ID), and Todd Young (IN).

As did Chairwoman Rosenworcel in her House testimony, the letter's signatories emphasized the interdependent relationship between (1) the hundreds of billions in federal subsidy dollars, including the $42.45 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, targeting broadband infrastructure expansion, and (2) the ability of lower-income Americans to pay for the service that that massive public investment makes possible.

Specifically, they pointed out that, as those subsidized networks "become operational, the significance of the Affordable Connectivity Program will become even more important as it ensures our constituents can benefit from these historic investments in connectivity."

In response, a White House spokesman stated that "[w]e look forward to working with members of both parties to extend funding for the program so that it can keep lowering high-speed internet costs for tens of millions of American families."