Lawmakers and advocates scramble to extend affordable internet subsidy
Source: PBS News Hour/AP
Apr 30, 2024 3:44 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) Twenty-three million families in the U.S. will have bigger internet bills starting in May. Thats because a federal broadband subsidy program theyre enrolled in is nearly out of money.
Dozens of people joined Biden administration officials, advocates and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, at a Washington public library on Tuesday to make a last-ditch plea to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, a subsidy created by Congress and touted by President Joe Biden as part of his push to bring internet access to every U.S. household. The program, which is set to expire at the end of May, helps people with limited means pay their broadband bills.
They need access to high-speed internet just like they need access to electricity, Sen. Welch told the gathering. This is what is required in a modern economy. The Affordable Connectivity Program, which Congress created with $14.2 billion through the bipartisan infrastructure law, provided qualifying households with a subsidy of $30 a month to help pay their internet bills. Households on tribal land received up to $75.
That help will be slashed starting in May, when enrolled households will only receive partial credits toward their internet bills. Barring any Congressional action to infuse the Affordable Connectivity Program with more cash, the subsidies will end completely at the end of the month.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/lawmakers-and-advocates-scramble-to-extend-affordable-internet-subsidy
jimfields33
(16,409 posts)That seems might steep for spending 50 buck per home a month. Im thinking I pay 196 a month but thats with cable so the internet is probably 80 of it.
summer_in_TX
(2,794 posts)Her telephone is my young friend's lifeline to making medical and mental health appointments or communicating with me. I take her to get groceries. She's disabled, medically fragile and immune compromised from several problems. The one with the worst effects on her health is her cerebrospinal fluid leakage from her brain into her sinus cavity. She's in a rural part of the county with no social services and almost no available transportation. She qualifies for Medicaid-funded rides to doctors but not to the grocery store.
The telephone lines need to light up for every Congressional office holder.
2naSalit
(87,303 posts)Even texts from Spectrum about my bill going up, I already pay $60/month for internet only. I can't afford any more than that. After my regular monthly bills are paid, I have somewhere around $500 to live on which include groceries, gas, car registration/insurance and anything else that come up. I stay home and use the internet because going anywhere costs money that I don't have in large amounts.
I hope they get this together or I might have to drop offline for an indefinite length of time.