Millions of Americans are about to lose internet access, and Congress is to blame 

Milton Perez spent more than five years living in New York City’s shelter system before he found an affordable apartment in Brooklyn through a housing lottery. Having a place of his own was a relief for Perez, who is a leader with the Vocal NY Homelessness Union. But it was also a cellular dead zone, and like millions of other New Yorkers—and millions more people across the country—Perez couldn’t afford a home internet connection. 

That meant every time he wanted to go online, he had to step outside his apartment or huddle in the subway to use the city’s free Wi-Fi. Perez, who was taking online courses at the State University of New York, grew well acquainted with his browser’s loading screen.

When COVID-19 hit and the sheer scope of the digital divide in America became clear, Congress moved quickly to create an emergency fund to help people pay for internet access. That fund later grew into what’s known as the Affordable Connectivity Program, a $30 monthly benefit that more than 23 million low-income Americans, including Perez, have applied toward internet service. The money not only enabled Perez to get internet access at home, but he’s also seen how it benefits the people he advocates for through the homelessness union.

“I see how necessary it is to actually have a quality connection,” Perez says. “And there are people who are much more in need than I am.”

But the program is about to run out—and Congress is watching it happen.

When the ACP was created in 2021 as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $14.2 billion Congress allocated was expected to last five years. But demand for the benefit was so high that in January the Federal Communications Commission announced the program would be winding down at the end of April, after just three years. To bridge the gap, lawmakers introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would allocate another $7 billion to the program—enough to last until the end of 2024 and give Congress some time to figure out a longer-term plan.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, despite bipartisan support for the bill and mounting pressure even from some House Republicans to extend the program. As a result, barring some eleventh-hour change of heart, full funding for the ACP will run out on Wednesday, a lapse that could force millions of low-income people off the internet and could deal a major setback to all the progress that was made in expanding internet access since the pandemic. 

“From our students who depend on it to access course materials, to our veterans who it has empowered to reach the benefits and healthcare services they’re entitled to, the ACP is keeping Americans of every background and demographic connected to the resources they need in our increasingly online world,” Democratic Representative Yvette Clarke of New York, who introduced the House bill, tells Fast Company. “Lives and livelihoods are on the line, and I refuse to accept Congress’s inaction with so much at stake.”

A bipartisan boost

Research has shown that having internet access reduces poverty and even improves the average health of a community. But according to the FCC’s survey data, more than two-thirds of ACP recipients either had no internet or inconsistent internet access prior to the benefit, with the majority citing cost as the primary barrier. The survey also found that if the ACP were to disappear, nearly 30% of respondents would drop their internet service altogether.

This expansion of internet access has been distributed fairly evenly among red and blue states, as well as red and blue congressional districts, which has no doubt contributed to the ACP’s widespread support across party lines. Indeed, in Johnson’s own district in Louisiana, more than 98,000 households received ACP funding as of February. The critical election swing states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia are all among the top states for ACP funding, with nearly 4 million recipients across those states alone, according to the FCC’s data.  

“The amount of money from the ACP going to congressional districts with a Democratic member and a Republican member is almost identical,” says Blair Levin, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and former executive director of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. “I cannot think of a single [government] program where the benefits of red and blue are 50-50.” 

The political upside of passing a broadly popular bipartisan bill with an immediate economic impact on millions of potential voters in key swing states during an election year may seem obvious. In reality, it’s been anything but. A number of House Republicans are already threatening to oust Johnson over his decision to work with Democrats to push forward an aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, which President Joe Biden signed into law last week. That fight has not only dominated lawmakers’ time but it’s also highlighted the precarity of Johnson’s position.

“He almost lost his head over that,” said one Democratic House aide who spoke to Fast Company on the condition of anonymity. “It’s hard for him to bring up something the Freedom Caucus is not out there for.” (Johnson’s office didn’t respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.)

And yet, failing to fund the ACP could also cost Republican lawmakers sitting in more vulnerable seats this November. Thanks to redistricting, New York Representative Brandon Williams, for one, is now running as a Republican incumbent in a district that Cook Political Report expects to go to a Democrat this year. That could help explain why Williams recently led a group of 20 House Republicans—including several whose races are considered toss-ups—in a letter to Johnson imploring him not to let the ACP’s funding lapse.

“In light of the pivotal role broadband services have assumed in our daily lives post-pandemic, immediate action must be taken to secure short-term funding for this essential infrastructure—safeguarding our constituents and Americans nationwide from potential disconnection to vital services,” the letter read.

In the Senate, meanwhile, where Democrats Peter Welch and Jacky Rosen joined with Republicans J.D. Vance and Kevin Cramer in cosponsoring a version of the bill, the path forward has been equally murky. According to one Senate aide, Vance’s office has been particularly active in trying to drum up Republican support for the bill. But other leading Republicans, including Senators Ted Cruz and John Thune, who are both ranking members on relevant Senate committees, have openly criticized the ACP, casting the program as part of “the Biden administration’s reckless spending spree.” 

Some lawmakers are now eyeing different avenues through which the ACP could eventually get funded—but none that would pass before the May 1 deadline. 

A threat to broadband infrastructure

The demise of the ACP risks having negative consequences not just for the millions of people who rely on it. It could also hamstring the government’s $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program (BEAD). That program will provide grants to states for broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas of the country. States will then distribute that money to internet service providers to build out their networks. 

Now experts worry that the end of the ACP will remove the incentive that ISPs had to build in remote or rural areas because it will reduce the number of potential customers they can serve in those places. “As these providers are looking to build out their networks, they’re going to be more likely to do so if they know that there’s going to be a customer on the other end of the line,” says Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Ultimately, of course, the fallout of all of these decisions—by the government and by the companies actually providing internet service—will fall on the 23 million people currently relying on the ACP. Some, but not all of them, could qualify for the FCC’s Lifeline program, but that covers only $9.25 a month, which is hardly enough to pay for most internet plans, which cost on average $75 for high-speed access. Others may live in areas where ISPs like Comcast already offer low-cost plans.

States, meanwhile, may begin requiring ISPs to offer low-cost plans. Just last week, New York state won a court battle over a law requiring ISPs to provide $15 plans for low-income people, a win that could set the stage for similar laws in other states.

But in the near-term, many ACP recipients may get hit with high bills they weren’t expecting, says Angela Siefer, executive director of the nonprofit National Digital Inclusion Alliance. Though ISPs have been notifying ACP subscribers that the end is coming, Siefer says many people will likely still be caught off guard. “We’re definitely going to end up with families with more communications debts,” Siefer says.

Not only that, but Siefer predicts that the end of the ACP will plunge some households back into the disconnected early days of the pandemic at a time when so many institutions, from schools to healthcare providers, have moved online.

“Technology was already integrated into our lives before, and because of COVID, it is even more integrated into our lives,” Siefer says. “The reality then is that when we lose the Affordable Connectivity Program, we will again see kids doing their homework in parking lots.”

Perez, for one, has been receiving notifications about the end of the ACP from his mobile provider, Metro by T-Mobile, since January. Metro has told him that he’ll continue to receive a partial discount through the summer, but that it will last only until September. After that, Perez says he’ll likely have to return to the way things were. “I expect that loading screen, that little circle, to pop up,” he says. “I haven’t seen it in years.”

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