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Elected officials at the local and federal level are urging Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offers discounted broadband service to low-income households, providing access to healthcare, education and employment.

Lake County, Ill. Board Member Jennifer Clark, who is also chair of the county’s special committee on broadband, said the program is “absolutely vital” to bridging the digital divide.

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Affordable Connectivity Program

“I talk to families all the time who can now have affordable high-speed internet at their homes,” Clark said. “They’re working from home remotely, they’re applying for jobs, they’re accessing health care, they’re signing up for doctor’s appointments and they’re really part of our economy and part of our community.

“To take away the ACP program would cut off millions of Americans from the internet and it would really be heartbreaking … All that we’ve built behind this program has really enriched our residents and our country’s economy and to see it go away just because Congress doesn’t fund it, it’s really almost unfathomable to me that that would happen.”

More than 20 million households across the country have enrolled in the program, which provides subsidies of $30 a month ($75 for Tribal lands and high-cost rural areas) under the qualifications of having an income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or enrollment in government assistance programming, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid.

The Biden administration recently requested $6 billion in funding from Congress to continue ACP, which is predicted to run out of funding by April 2024, and in August, 45 bipartisan members of Congress, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), called for an extension of the program.

“We have a unique window of opportunity to ensure that every family and child — rural, urban and suburban — have access to affordable broadband, and can thrive in the digital age,” read the letter, penned to then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“ACP has become a lifeline for Americans, and we cannot afford to let it expire. We strongly urge you to prioritize the extension of funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program in the upcoming government appropriations bill,” the letter noted. “Failure to extend funding would not only leave millions of families without access to the internet but also hinder our long-term competitiveness as a nation.”’

Clark said that because Congress has not yet extended the funding, Lake County has seen a stagnation in people signing up for the benefits.

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