Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and four other senators joined forces Tuesday night to file an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would allocate $6 billion to the FCC’s affordable connectivity program for FY 2024 and $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Senate leaders were still in talks Tuesday night on what amendments to the FAA package they would allow floor votes on in hopes of securing a time agreement to speed consideration of the measure.
Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)?
The Affordable Connectivity Program was a recently expired subsidy for low-income households to lower the cost of purchasing broadband internet and connected devices. The program was signed into law as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the FCC up until June 1, 2024, due to expiration of the ACP’s funding.
Will the ACP Return?
Congress continues to debate restoring ACP funding, with immediate next steps likely to come from the Senate Commerce Committee or Congressional discussions on revising the Universal Service Fund.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren urged the FCC that it continue providing Lifeline funding for tribal households should the affordable connectivity program end. In a letter Friday in docket 21-450, Nygren said the Navajo Nation backed a Smith Bagley petition seeking an increase in tribal Lifeline support (see 2404080030). The temporary increase in support would "keep broadband affordable for tribal households, many of which are located in remote areas and are among the most in need of ACP and Lifeline support," Nygren said.
The National Lifeline Association raised concerns with FCC Wireline Bureau staff about the potential funding gap in the affordable connectivity program. Many providers will continue reduced or no-cost service offerings "for some period of time in hopes of an ACP funding solution," NaLa said in a letter Friday in docket 21-450. It asked the commission to forego requiring that ACP providers de-enroll subscribers from the national Lifeline accountability database as of June 1. The process of re-enrolling ACP subscribers "would be a tremendous burden on ACP providers and consumers," NaLa said.
Heavy competition the cable industry faces from fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) is moving downscale, with multiple cable operators telling Wall Street in recent days that there's more pressure at the lower end of the market. Some anticipate greater pressure on their internet subscriber numbers due to the looming end of the affordable connectivity program. Moreover, Charter Communications said it's already seeing effects from February's freeze on new ACP enrollments (see 2402010075).
Top Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) backers Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Thursday they plan to press forward with an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the ailing FCC broadband program (see 2405010055) despite opposition from Senate leaders. ACP stopgap funding advocates used a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing that day to implore that Congress act while critics raised objections about what they said was a lack of clear information about the program's efficacy.
Policymakers, industry officials and broadband experts emphasized the demand for additional rural broadband deployment and affordability programs during an NTCA policy conference Wednesday in Washington. With uncertainty looming around the FCC's affordable connectivity program, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks urged Congress to replenish the program and keep rural communities connected (see 2405010055).
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a lead GOP co-sponsor of the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565), confirmed Wednesday he will push hard for an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding to keep the ailing FCC broadband program running through the end of the fiscal year. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935).
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).
The California Public Utilities Commission won’t shorten time to respond to consumer advocates’ petition to modify state LifeLine rules in light of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) ending. Comments will be due May 23, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Robyn Purchia ruled Tuesday. The California Broadband & Video Association (CalBroadband) had opposed fast comments on multiple petitions by The Utility Reform Network and the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office (see 2404240063, 2404230020 and 2404150062). “We are persuaded by the due process concerns raised by CalBroadband,” said Purchia said in docket R.20-02-008.
The Senate Commerce Committee will likely advance an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act during a Wednesday executive session with unanimous support from the panel’s 14 Democratic members, but lobbyists will watch closely how many Republicans don’t openly object to the measure as a means of determining its viability. The spectrum bill, led by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction mandate through Sept. 30, 2029. The measure proposes using future license sales revenue to repay a proposed loan to the commission to fund the affordable connectivity program in FY 2024 and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2404250061).