The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended on May 31 – much to the chagrin of FCC and Biden administration leadership – leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their subsidized internet service.
The White House announced Friday voluntary commitments to customers from over a dozen internet service providers to offer plans at $30 or less to low-income households through the end of 2024 so that families across the country can continue accessing low-cost internet.
The ACP is the nation’s largest broadband affordability program, providing eligible households a discount of up to $30 per month on their internet bills, and up to $75 for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Twenty-three million U.S. households participate in the program.
According to a recent study by the FCC, more than three-quarters of surveyed ACP households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or lose internet service entirely.
In a fact sheet released on May 31, the White House said the ACP brought “millions of families online for the first time and [made] historic progress towards closing the digital divide.”
“Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of households are now at risk of losing their internet connections,” the White House wrote. “President Biden is once again calling on Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, so tens of millions of Americans can continue to access this essential benefit.”
The White House’s announcement Friday includes 14 internet service providers – including AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon – that are voluntarily offering their current ACP subscribers and other eligible households a high-speed internet plan for $30 per month or less, with no fees and data caps, until the end of 2024. These providers collectively cover up to 10 million ACP households, the White House said.
“President Biden knows that even $30 is too much for some families, which is why he will continue calling on Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program,” the fact sheet reads. “On October 25, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration sent Congress a supplemental request for $6 billion to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. Today, the President is repeating that call once again.”
Ahead of its sunset on May 2, lawmakers held a hearing to voice their support for the ACP funding.
“It would be a significant waste of government funds to let this program lapse,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. – chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband – said. “It would mean letting all the time and resources the Federal government and our state and local partners have put into standing up the program and enrolling 23 million households go to waste.”
There are proposals on the table to save the ACP, such as the bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt., JD Vance, R-Ohio, Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., introduced the bill in the Senate back in January – when the FCC first notified customers that the program would be ending. Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced the bill in the House.
