The White House indicated on Friday it may finally put its weight behind re-funding the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is subsidizing broadband for over 21 million households and is expected to run out of funding by early next year.

The ACP nod was included in a letter from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requesting $105 billion in emergency supplemental funding for fiscal year 2024 for "key national security priorities," primarily related to the wars in Israel and Ukraine, as well as border security. In addition to that funding, the OMB director referred to "additional urgent needs for millions of hard-working Americans" and said other funding requests are coming soon:

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"The Office of Management and Budget is refining our estimates of funding required to address recent natural disasters, avoid the risk that millions of Americans lose access to affordable high-speed internet or child care, provide additional resources for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, and avert a funding cliff for wildland firefighter pay. I anticipate submitting a request for supplemental funds in these areas in the coming days," wrote OMB Director Shalanda D. Young.

The "risk that millions of Americans lose access to affordable high-speed internet" is tied to the expectation that the ACP will run out of funding by April 2024. That program was originally funded with $14.2 billion in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), as part of a $65 billion package of broadband bills, including the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The ACP currently provides a monthly subsidy of $30 toward broadband and a one-time device discount.

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