Did you know 23 million US households are about to lose internet access?
You probably didn’t. But it’s true: Without congressional action this month, vulnerable communities could find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide again.
First Things First
Long time, no see! I’ve been terribly sick these past couple of weeks and unplugged as much as I could from the newsletter while I healed up. I’m all better now and back into the swing of things. Thanks for your grace while I was off the grid.
We’re in the midst of an intense news cycle, including the fallout of the Israeli Defense Force strike that killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza on Monday and the Biden campaign’s decision to put Florida in play after a pair of abortion-related rulings from the state’s supreme court—I’ll try to send another issue with the latest on both stories tomorrow by the weekend.
But this evening, let’s focus on a story that’s getting less national attention than it should despite its significant ramifications for millions of American households.
I’m referring to the Affordable Connectivity Program, a program created with $14.2 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed in late 2021 that provides discounts of up to $30 per month for low-income households to get internet service. (Households on tribal lands receive up to $75 per month off their service and eligible households also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating providers. The subsidies have enabled people and families to participate in school and work, access health care, connect with loved ones and express their creativity.
23 million households are enrolled in the ACP, but the program is scheduled to sunset at the end of the month without congressional action. The Biden administration has been sounding the alarm on the looming funding cliff all week, and a White House official said the push for congressional action will continue all month.
“For months, since last October actually, President Biden has been calling on Congress to pass legislation that would extend the benefit through 2024,” a senior administration official told me this week. “But unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have failed to act. If they don’t, millions of their constituents will be at risk of seeing their internet costs go up [and] seeing their internet quality go down—and they might lose access entirely when the program runs out of money in April.”
In the Republican-controlled House, a decision to put an extension up for a vote is in the hands of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Spokespeople for Johnson did not return multiple requests for comment on whether he is interested in extending the program through the end of the year. (90,447 households in Johnson’s district—an estimated one in three—are enrolled in the ACP, according to the White House. His district has received more than $53 million in total funding from the program.)
“I am working closely with my colleagues on ways to provide short-term ACP funding and long-term solutions for affordable broadband that support our national competitiveness, as well as funding to support national security interests by removing security risks like Huawei and ZTE equipment from our telecommunications systems,” Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said in a statement to Once Upon a Hill.
Enrollment in the program has been frozen since February. Households have received two to three notices announcing that the program is in a wind-down phase and will be ending. Once their ACP dollars run out at the end of April, they will have to work with their internet provider to get uninterrupted service moving forward.
As with most federal safety-net programs, folks from vulnerable communities—veterans, students, seniors and people of color—will bear the brunt of an ACP funding lapse.
“We really stand at a crossroad in the landscape of communications and digital equity,” FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told reporters earlier this afternoon.
Starks said Black households, who represent one in four households, are at particular risk of falling on the wrong side of the digital divide without a funding extension. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus—including Chair Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Vice Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)—have hosted events with Starks to promote the program in recent months.
“They have absolutely put their shoulder into this program,” Starks said of CBC members. “I can testify to that.”
Beyond congressional leaders, Starks said 26 governors and 180 mayors have publicly expressed support for the ACP as well.
White House Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin added that the ACP is a part of the CBC’s Black wealth agenda.
“They see this as an essential piece of the puzzle, unfettered, affordable, accessible [internet] access,” he told me. “This is a central piece of the CBC’s agenda that the chairman and vice chair and others have been very vocal and clear on.”
A senior White House official told me the administration didn’t have a preference for the legislative vehicle an ACP extension would need to be attached since it’s unlikely there will be enough floor time on the calendar for a stand-alone vote.
Clarke introduced a bill that would extend ACP funding through the end of the fiscal year. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced companion legislation in the Senate. A spokesperson for Welch told me the senator continues to push for supplemental funding for the ACP to be attached to a bill when Congress returns next week.
“We’re looking at other legislative vehicles for the ACP Extension Act before the program runs out of funding and families are disconnected,” the spokesperson said. “Congress needs to act now and in a bipartisan way.”
Beyond 2024, the White House is hopeful Congress will unite around a long-term solution to sustain the program. The president included a request to fund the ACP in the 2025 budget request he submitted to Congress last month.
“The immediate challenge in front of us is making sure that these programs don’t go away and that we don't simply shut off support for 23 million families,” the senior administration official said. “We are eager to have the conversation about the long-term solution as well. But what is in front of us, is a short-term problem that we really need to fix.”
In other news, President Biden spoke over the phone with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, the first conversation since a summit in Woodside, California, last November.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said after the call that Xi raised the topic of TikTok and expressed concerns following a House-passed bill that would remove the popular social app from US app stores if its owner—Chinese internet technology company ByteDance—refused to fully divest from the app within 180 days. (The White House supports the bill. It’s unclear the path forward in the Senate.)
Kirby said Biden responded to Xi’s concerns by making it clear that the legislation was not about a ban on Tiktok. Instead, the US president said the measure was about divestiture, preserving the data security of the American people and our own national security interests.
Kirby was asked during a press call this morning how the White House reconciles the Biden administration’s ban of TikTok on federal devices with the Biden campaign’s use of the app.
“I'm not going to speak for the campaign. I can only speak for the National Security Council and speak for the president in the context of the National Security Council. And from that perspective, we have been nothing but consistent,” Kirby said. “There are significant national security concerns about that application on government devices which is why we’re not allowed to use it on government devices. And number two, that is why the President continues to want to see a divestiture of the company so that it's not owned by ByteDance so that the Chinese Communist Party is not in control of the data that TikTok is able to assemble on its users. And I think that that there’s reassurance there if in fact, we can move towards that divestiture.”
In addition to TikTok, the two leaders discussed various bilateral, regional, and global issues, including counternarcotics cooperation, military communication, addressing AI-related risks, climate change, and people-to-people exchanges.
Biden emphasized the importance of peace in Taiwan and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, expressed concerns about China's support for Russia's defense industry and non-market economic practices, and reiterated the commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The two leaders agreed to continue open communication and manage the relationship through diplomacy and consultations, including upcoming visits by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the first cabinet members to visit China this year.
Related: “TikTok Shop’s era of super subsidies is ending” by Amanda Hoover: “The app’s shopping features won over sellers by offering deals that can seem too good to be true. Now TikTok is raising sellers fees, which may translate to higher prices.”
The Numbers
5.4 million: The number of American adults diagnosed with autism. (1 in 36 kids have been diagnosed with the condition.)
Tuesday was World Autism Acceptance Day,
an observance designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 to increase awareness, understanding, and acceptance of people with autism.
“Autistic people routinely face unnecessary obstacles to securing employment and health care and children face bullying and barriers to education,” President Biden said in a proclamation. “We can work to end these disparities and ensure they have an equal opportunity to reach their dreams by making sure that people with autism and those who support them have the resources and tools they need to communicate, grow, work, and achieve greater independence.”
27 million: The number of Americans impacted by asthma, including four million kids. President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held an event with health care advocates at the White House today to discuss their work to lower the cost of inhalers, which can cost between $200 and $600 for those without insurance—despite costing less than $5 to produce.
One inhaler manufacturer removed its patents after the Biden administration announced efforts to crack down on falsely claimed patents and increase competition to lower costs. Last month, three of the four largest inhaler manufacturers announced that they would cap the cost of inhalers for many patients at $35 per month.
“This work to deliver lower health care costs is in stark contrast to Republican elected officials’ vision. Republican officials are still working to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and gut Medicaid,” a White House official said. “And they just released a budget that would lead to devastating cuts to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, increased housing costs and prescription drug costs for families, and huge giveaways for the wealthy and the biggest corporations.”
4: The number of times Vice President Kamala Harris will have visited North Carolina since she was sworn in following a trip to the Tar Heel State on Thursday.
While in Charlotte, she will discuss the administration’s investments in climate action and her work to address the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, and increasing access to capital throughout the country including in underserved communities. Environmental Protection Administration head Michael Regan will join her.
Harris joined President Biden in Raleigh last week to spotlight the administration’s health care agenda. She also traveled to Black Wall Street in Durham last month to announce investments to support small businesses. The vice president kicked off the year by visiting Eastway Middle School in Charlotte to announce $285 million in funding from a gun safety law Biden signed in 2022 to help schools nationwide hire and train mental health counselors.
North Carolina has also received increased attention from the Biden campaign as it looks to expand its electoral map. The campaign scored one of its most vital moments earlier this year when President Biden visited the popular fast-food restaurant chain Cook Out before a kitchen table conversation with Eric Fitts, a single dad who works in the local school system and benefited from the administration’s student loan cancelation programs.
Former President Donald Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020. Democrats haven’t won it since 2008 when former President Obama did so by 14,177 votes against the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
2: The number of Business Recovery Centers the Small Business Administration has opened in Baltimore to assist business owners in completing their disaster loan applications, accept documents for existing applications, and provide status on loan applications in the wake of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“The SBA joins the entire federal family in grieving for the lives lost in the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said. “As Baltimore and the wider community mourn and start to rebuild, the SBA and the Biden-Harris Administration stand ready to help local small businesses get through the economic disruption caused by the bridge collapse.”
President Biden will travel to Baltimore on Friday to visit the collapsed bridge, meet with state and local officials and get an on-the-ground look at the federal response efforts, according to the White House.
Read All About It
“Driving Next Week Will Be Brutal for a Huge Chunk of the Country. Blame the Eclipse.” by Allison Pohle and Elizabeth Findell: “Day-trippers for the rare event should take precautions and prepare for a long, slow drive home.”
“Nervous about November? Imagine being Biden’s campaign manager.” by Jesús Rodriguez: “Julie Chávez Rodríguez seems pretty calm, all things considered.”
“The Republican Party’s plan to win over Black men is a mess” by Jasmine Wright and Calen Razor: “Absent any national infrastructure, outside groups are attempting to devise strategies of their own.”
“How Republicans texted and emailed their way into a money problem” by Josh Dawsey, Michael Scherer and Clara Ence Morse: “Small-dollar donations to Donald Trump and the GOP are way down since 2019 and 2020. But the former president’s team says they see a turnaround.”
“The low-key Republican officials quietly dismantling all of our rights” by Dahlia Lithwick: “The group receives almost no sustained public attention or accountability.”
“Ro Khanna wants to be the future of the Democratic Party” by Russell Berman: “Khanna, a congressman who represents Silicon Valley, sees himself as a bridge between America’s faded industrial might and its digital future.”
“California is gripped by economic problems, with no easy fix” by The Economist: “Rising unemployment, a growing deficit and persistent outmigration are a painful trinity.”
“How Gen Z is becoming the toolbelt generation” by Te-Ping Chen: “More young workers are going into trades as disenchantment with the college track continues, and rising pay and new technologies shine up plumbing and electrical jobs.”
“Elite college admissions have turned students into brands” by Sarah Bernstein: “Teenagers should not have to commoditize themselves for the sake of getting into an elite school.”
“Colleges are facing an enrollment nightmare” by Rose Horowitch: “A botched effort to streamline the financial-aid process may prevent a huge number of students from going to college in the fall.”
“Heres how generative AI depicts queer people” by Reece Rogers: “WIRED investigates how artificial intelligence tools, like OpenAI’s Sora, currently portray members of the LGBTQ community. Hint: It’s a lot of purple hair.”
“When kids are addicted to their phones, who’s to blame?” by Kathryn Jesse-Morton: “Parents can’t change their kids’ relationships to screens without also addressing their own.”
“Let people sell their kidneys. It will save lives” by Dylan Walsh: “A regulated market for donations could help end the shortage of these organs for transplant.”
“The true cost of the churchgoing bust” by Derek Thompson: “Many Americans seem to have found no alternative method to build a sense of community.”
“Angel Reese is taking her talents to the WNBA” by Leah Faye Cooper: “In an exclusive interview and shoot with Vogue, the basketball star talks her time at LSU and plans to go pro.”
“Are Skims campaigns the new Vogue covers?” by Kyndall Cunningham: “The internet loves Kim Kardashian’s shapewear company. But it loves its ads even more.”