Joe Biden has touted bringing affordable internet service to families across the country as part of the agenda he wants voters to remember come November. That promise now hangs in the balance as the program runs out of funds and needs action from a divided Congress.
“We do think the funding [for affordable internet] is necessary, but this is a difficult political environment and the budget is going to be tough,” Senator Ben Cardin told NOTUS.
Funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) — a key component of Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law, which provides a discount of between $30 and $75 a month for internet — was supposed to last five years. But because of such high demand, the program officially stopped accepting new applicants at midnight on Feb. 7, and is projected to run out of money by April.