#Affordable Connectivity Program

[darlingillustrations]

This is not art related, but it is Important, and I feel like y'all need to hear about it.

I found a way to get assistance with my Internet Bills.

Bills are really treacherous for me right now, as I imagine that they are for many of you as well. So I started reaching out to all the places where I have bills to see if the companies have any emergency assistance available for hardship situations.

I reached out to my Internet Provider (who will remain nameless). After spending HOURS on the phone, getting the run around (aka: agents trying to upsell products, having disconnections, and being treated really poorly) i FINALLY got someone who treated me like a human being, and he told me about the Affordable Connectivity Program!

The Affordable Connectivity Program

This is a federal assistance program in the US and it GIVES YOU MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR INTERNET. I want to scream about it here because Enrollments End February 7, 2024 and I didn't even know this program was a Thing!

Apply Before February 7, 2024!

The application is VERY easy. I completed it is a few minutes, and I got accepted the next day. It will take $30 off my internet bill every month.

So, if you are low income in the US, please please *please* check this out!!

(Link to the government page in reblogs.)

[destielmemenews]

"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.”"

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[defleftist]

If I may put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, this is a really opportune time to try banning tik tok and shutting down the Affordable Connectivity Program which sought to provide internet access to low income folks. Our government is quite literally restricting our access to information right as it continues to financially support the genocidal apartheid state of Israel. I take this as a sign they fear the working class and our power. Time to rise up.

[tellmeayarn]

I am once again asking you to get angry.

The affordable connectivity program (ACP) is out of money, and all signs indicate that we really REALLY need to make some noise about it if we want to hope for a renewal. Head here, do the thing, call your reps:

This is very very important to me. One in six US households use the ACP subsidy to pay for the internet. It also provides free/low cost devices to people who are struggling -- It's the foundation of programs that can give unhoused people access to a free phone. It helps poor kids get Chromebooks so they can do their homework. We need it. We need it so bad.

[walks-the-ages]

You know another way Democrats could instantly get votes?

Something they could do to instantly gain more goodwill from the average american who isn't politically aware ?

Raise the minimum wage

Bring back the Affordable Connectivity Program

Hell, bring some new program in that makes a federal free internet plan that everyone everywhere can connect to for free and if you want better speeds or exclusivity you can shop around other companies like usual

Bridge the gap between WIC and SNAP/EBT/Foodstamps so its not so limited and runs on the same simplified program instead of paper checks that are only good for "x ounces of x food" and increase how much everyone gets each month

make a national standard that makes it easier for people to receive benefits via taking *living expenses* and transportation into account; no more "sorry you make too much to get food stamps" meanwhile 90% of a paycheck is going towards rent and everything else is going to utilites.

Enshrine abortion rights at the federal level

Enshrine queer rights, including healthcare, at the national level

Close Guantanamo bay and release the prisoners with full reparations and medical support

Stop commiting a goddamn fucking genocide and stop interfering with international law from the rest of the civilized world by vetoing every single measure that goes through the UN to stop atrocities

Oh, you say? Democrats won't or "can't" do any of these things? There's only a few weeks before the election? Well they probably should have thought for the past 4 fucking years they've been in office let alone the past year where they've fully embraced genocide and war crimes and have repeatedly stated again and again that they're going to continue to do so in the future if they're elected again??

Well, there's a reason Jill Stein and the Green Party are so popular this year...

[christina-sonikkukokoro3]

Bad news! The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is going to lose funding in the next few months! Please tell people in the US Congress to keep funding the program which I and millions of other Americans use to have discounted internet and phone service! You can do so by sending an email through this site: Save ACP - US Tech Future

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In 2024, reliable access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury; it is a basic necessity. From job applications to managing personal finances and completing school work, internet access is an essential part of daily life. Without an internet connection, individuals are effectively cut off from basic societal activities. 

But the reality is that many people — particularly those living around the poverty line — can not afford internet access. Without internet access, the difficult task of working your way from the American economy's bottom rung becomes virtually impossible.   On November 21, 2021, President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The new law included the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provided up to $30 per month to individuals or families with income up to 200% of the federal poverty line to help pay for high-speed internet. (For a family of four, the poverty line is currently $31,200.) On Tribal lands, where internet access is generally more expensive, the ACP offers subsidies up to $75 per month.  The concept started during the Trump administration. The last budget enacted by Trump included $3.2 billion to help families afford internet access. The FCC made the money available as a subsidy to low-income individuals and families through a program known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The legislation signed by Biden extended and formalized the program.  It has been a smashing success.

Today, the ACP is "helping 23 million households – 1 in 6 households across America." The program has particularly benefited "rural communities, veterans, and older Americans where the lack of affordable, reliable high-speed internet contributes to significant economic, health and other disparities." According to an FCC survey, two-thirds of beneficiaries "reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP." These households report using their high-speed internet to "schedule or attend healthcare appointments (72%), apply for jobs or complete work (48%), do schoolwork (75% for ACP subscribers 18-24 years old)." Tomorrow, the program will abruptly end.  In October 2023, the White House sent a supplemental budget request to Congress, which included $6 billion to extend the program through the end of 2024. There is also a bipartisan bill, the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which would extend the program with $7 billion in funding. The benefits of the program have shown to be far greater than the costs. An academic study published in February 2024 found that "for every dollar spent on the ACP, the nation’s GDP increases by $3.89." The program will lapse tomorrow because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuses to bring either the bill (or the supplemental funding request) to a vote. The Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act has 225 co-sponsors which means that, if Johnson held a vote, it would pass. 

[...]

The Republican attack on affordable internet

Why will Johnson not even allow a vote to extend the ACP? He is not commenting. But there are hints in the federal budget produced by the Republican Study Committee (RSC). The RSC is the "conservative caucus" of the House GOP, and counts 179 of the 217 Republicans in the House as members. Johnson served as the chair of the RSC in 2019 and 2020. He is currently a member of the group's executive committee.  The RSC's latest budget says it "stands against" the ACP and labels it a "government handout[] that disincentivize[s] prosperity." The RSC claims the program is unnecessary because "80 percent" of beneficiaries had internet access before the program went into effect. For that statistic, the RSC cites a report from a right-wing think tank, the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), which opposes the ACP. EPIC, in turn, cites an FCC survey to support its contention that 80% of ACP beneficiaries already had internet access. The survey actually found that "over two-thirds of survey respondents (68%) reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP."

[...] The RSC also falsely claims that funding for the precursor to the ACP, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB), "was signed into law at the end of President Biden’s first year in office." This is false. Former President Trump signed the funding into law in December 2020. The RSC's position is not popular. A December 2023 poll found that 79% of voters support "continuing the ACP, including 62% of Republicans, 78% of Independents, and 96% of Democrats."

In 2024, access to the internet is a necessity and not just a luxury, and the Republicans are set to end the Affordable Connectivity Program if no action is taken. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provided subsidies to low-income people and families to obtain internet access.

[mossymagpie]

The Affordable Connectivity Programs funding is expected to end early this next year. For those who don't know it gives a lot of people free or reduced Internet services.

I receive a 30 dollar credit each month off of my bill, and even then my bill is still $50/month. This is really going to hit hard, especially for people who currently receive free WiFi through the program. It's important people have Internet access in their homes, and it's something a lot of people cannot afford to lose right now. While yes public WiFi is an option not everyone has the ability to get themselves around to places that offer it.

Spectrum has a link where you can send an email asking to extend the program here

You can also contact your state representative too. You can use this link to look up who your representative is.

This program saved me during the pandemic when I lost my job, and even if it loses funding I will be fine for now, but that is not the case for everyone, especially with the rising cost of bills and internet access in general.

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi. I was wondering if you would be willing to share information about the Affordable Connectivity Program for your followers who might benefit ftom it? www.fcc.gov/acp. Thanks.

Of course, cherry bomb! Thanks so much for bringing it to our attention. From the org's site:

The Affordable Connectivity Program is an FCC benefit program that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more.

The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands.

Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

And worry not, Bitch Nation: we did a little research into it, and the ACP is a legit government program and not a scam, and the FCC can generally be trusted. Good luck!

If you liked this article, join our Patreon!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Smith :: Las Vegas Sun

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 29, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 30, 2024

In December 2020, when the pandemic illustrated the extraordinary disadvantage created by the inability of those in low-income households to communicate online with schools and medical professionals, then-president Trump signed into law an emergency program to provide funding to make internet access affordable. In 2021, Congress turned that idea into the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and made it part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). 

The program has enabled 23 million American households to afford high-speed internet. Those benefiting from it are primarily military families, older Americans, and Black, Latino, and Indigenous households. In February, the Brookings Institution cited economics studies that said each dollar invested in the ACP increases the nation’s gross domestic product by $3.89 and that the program has led to increased employment and higher wages. It also cuts the costs of healthcare by replacing some in-person emergency room visits with telehealth.  

Slightly more of the money in the program goes to districts represented by Republicans than to those represented by Democrats, which might explain why 79% of voters want to continue the program: 96% of Democrats, 78% of Independents, and 62% of Republicans.

But the ACP is running out of money. Back in October 2023, President Joe Biden asked Congress to fund it until the end of 2024, and a bipartisan bill that would extend the program has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. Each remains in an appropriation committee. As of today, the House bill has 228 co-sponsors, the Senate bill has 5. 

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he supports the measure, but House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has not commented. Judd Legum pointed out in Popular Information today that the 2025 budget of the far-right Republican Study Committee (RSC) calls for allowing the ACP to expire, saying the RSC “stands against corporate welfare and government handouts that disincentivize prosperity.” More than four fifths of House Republicans belong to the RSC. 

The differences between the parties’ apparent positions on the ACP illustrates the difference in their political ideology. Republicans object to government investment in society and believe market forces should be left to operate without interference in order to promote prosperity. Democrats believe that economic prosperity comes from the hard work of ordinary people and that government investment in society clears the way for those people to succeed. 

Wealth growth for young Americans was stagnant for decades before the pandemic, but it has suddenly experienced a historic rise. In Axios, Emily Peck reported that household wealth for Americans under 40 has risen an astonishing 49% from where it was before the pandemic. Wealth doubled for those born between 1981 and 1996. This increase in household wealth comes in part from rising home prices and more financial assets, as well as less debt, which fell by $5,000 per household. Households of those under 35 have shown a 140% increase in median wealth in the same time period.

Brendan Duke and Christian E. Weller, the authors of the Center for American Progress study from which Peck’s information came, say this wealth growth is not tied to a few super-high earners, but rather reflects broad based improvement. “A simple reason for the strong wealth growth is that younger Americans are experiencing an especially low unemployment rate and especially strong wage growth,” Duke and Weller note, “making it easier for them to accumulate wealth.” 

In honor of National Small Business Week, Vice President Kamala Harris today launched an “economic opportunity tour” in Atlanta, where she highlighted the federal government’s $158 million investment in “The Stitch,” a project to reconnect midtown to downtown Atlanta. This project is an initial attempt to reconnect the communities that were severed by the construction of highways, often cutting minority or poor neighborhoods off from jobs and driving away businesses while saddling the neighborhoods with pollution. 

While some advocates wanted to use the $3.3 billion available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to take down highways altogether, the administration has shied away from such a dramatic revision and has instead focused on creating new public green spaces, bike paths, access to public transportation, safety features, and so on, to link and improve neighborhoods. More than 40 states so far have received funding under this program. 

The administration says that projects like The Stitch will promote economic growth in neighborhoods that have borne the burden of past infrastructure projects. Today it touted the extraordinary growth of small businesses since Biden and Harris took office, noting that their economic agenda “has driven the first, second and third strongest years of new business application rates on record—and is on pace for the fourth—with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications.” 

Small businesses owned by historically underserved populations “are growing at near-historic rates, with Black business ownership growing at the fastest pace in 30 years and Latino business ownership growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade,” the White House said. The administration has invested in small businesses, working to level the playing field between them and their larger counterparts by making capital and information available, while working to reform the tax code so that corporations pay as much in taxes as small businesses do.  

“Small businesses are the engines of the economy,” the White House said today. “As President Biden says, every time someone starts a new small business, it’s an act of hope and confidence in our economy.” 

In place of economic growth, Republicans have focused on whipping up supporters by insisting that Democrats are corrupt and are cheating to take over the government. Matt Gertz of Media Matters noted in February that “Fox News host Sean Hannity and his House Republican allies spent 2023 trying to manufacture an impeachable offense against President Joe Biden out of their fact-free obsession with the president’s son, Hunter.” At least 325 segments about Hunter Biden appeared on Hannity’s show in 2023; 220 had at least one false or misleading claim. The most frequent purveyor of that disinformation was Representative James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, who went onto the show 43 times to talk about the president’s son. 

The House impeachment inquiry was really designed to salt right-wing media channels with lies about the president and, in the end, turned up nothing other than witnesses who said President Biden was not involved in his son’s businesses. Then the Republicans’ key witness, Alexander Smirnov, was indicted for lying about the Bidens, and then he turned out to be in contact with Russian spies. 

Comer has been quietly backing away from impeaching the president until today, when he popped back into the spotlight after news broke that Hunter Biden’s lawyer has threatened to sue the Fox News Channel (FNC) for “conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame Mr. Biden and paint him in a false light, the unlicensed commercial exploitation of his image, name, and likeness, and the unlawful publication of hacked intimate images of him.” His lawyer’s letter calls out FNC’s promotion of Smirnov’s false allegations. 

Last year, FNC paid almost $800 million to settle defamation claims made by Dominion Voting Systems after FNC hosts pushed the lie that Dominion machines had changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. 

Legal pressure on companies lying for profit has proved successful. Two weeks ago, the far-right media channel One America News Network (OAN) settled a defamation lawsuit with the voting technology company Smartmatic. Today, OAN retracted a false story about former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, apparently made to discredit the testimony of Stormy Daniels about her sexual encounters with Trump. OAN suggested that it was Cohen rather than Trump who had a relationship with Daniels, and that Cohen had extorted Trump over the story.  

“OAN apologizes to Mr. Cohen for any harm the publication may have caused him,” the network wrote in a statement. “To be clear, no evidence suggests that Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels were having an affair and no evidence suggests that Mr. Cohen ‘cooked up’ the scheme to extort the Trump Organization before the 2016 election.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[magicalblerdpenn]

Hey y'all. If you're based in the United States, please call your Congressional reps and ask them to approve this bill funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. It helps low income households like mine get a discount on their internet bill. As a freelance writer who works from home while being a family caregiver, this has helped me save money. Without this funding, the Affordable Connectivity Program will end in April.

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE U.S. CONGRESS

Fund the Affordable Connectivity Program NOW!

130 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

I’m a concerned constituent writing to urge you to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. Digital connectivity is a basic necessity in our modern world and the internet must be treated as a public utility. We use the internet to apply for jobs, perform our jobs, receive telehealth medical treatment, and pay bills, and students use it to complete homework assignments. But for millions of people in rural and urban areas, and Tribal communities, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford. Failure by Congress to fund this program will force millions of households already on tight budgets to choose between being able to stay online or potentially losing access to this essential service. If Congress doesn’t act fast, funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will run out and more than 22 million Americans -- 1 in 6 households -- will lose this vital service. The implications of this will be devastating. In 2019, 18% of Native people living on Tribal land had no internet access; 33% relied on cell phone service for the internet; and 39% had spotty or no connection to the internet at home on their smart phone. The ACP has enrolled 320,000 households on Tribal lands -- important progress. The largest percentage gains in broadband access are in rural areas. Nearly half of military families are enrolled in ACP, as are one in four African American and Latino households. Losing access and training on using computers and the internet will have devastating impacts on all these communities as technology becomes increasingly integral to work, education, health, and our everyday lives. Without moves to address tech inequality, low-income communities and communities of color are heading towards an “unemployment abyss.” The Affordable Connectivity Program has broad bipartisan support because it is working. As your constituent, I am urging you to push for renewed funding for the ACP before it runs out in the coming weeks.

▶ Created on April 11 by Jess Craven

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[millionmovieproject]

In this episode, Jared & I discuss the conflict in #Haiti, & the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (#ACP) that provides internet to 1 in 6 in the US, that will potentially strip the most vulnerable of internet access, & the need for #nationalization of utilities and services.

Jared also treats us to an original song.

[thranduilofsmirkwood]

I'm having such problems with my phone carrier since I signed up for ACP to save $30/month. I had to buy a new phone, lost my $65 data plan after 3 days, had to buy a new SIM card. It'll take me 6 months of saving $30/month to break even.

I still have spotty high-speed data so it makes editing my memes very difficult. So, I'm doing my best to provide content but it's frustrating lol.

[coolxatu]

welp dark timeline has won. ACP is already gone for the majority, and we now enter into the partial funding phase

for those that haven't been cut off yet, depending on how and who you received the ACP benefit through, you may still have internet until the end of may if you're lucky.

i can personally vouch that verizon at least has guaranteed its ACP recipients that currently use any of their prepaid wireless services will continue to be funded till may 31st.

this includes:

Straight Talk

Total by Verizon

Simple Mobile

Safelink

Walmart Family Mobile

Tracfone

Go Smart

Page Plus

Net 10

not sure if any other providers are doing the same, so i recommended checking out what your isp has to say about it. ive heard that some providers may even start giving out their own discounts in the future in order to keep ACP customers from canceling their contracts.

i encourage everyone that was enrolled in ACP to check out the link below to see if there are any local internet assistance programs in your state or city that you may qualify for

if you currently recieve EBT or medicaid then you should qualify for a free lifeline phone, which provides both free monthly cell service and a few GB of data each month. many lifeline providers allow you to use your own phone with their service if its compatible, but they will send you a free cheap smartphone if you need one. keep in mind that only one lifeline phone is allowed per household, even if your household members are just roommates.

you can apply for lifeline using the link below

i know better than anyone how depressing this whole situation is, but hopefully this won't be a forever thing. this program has helped too many people to just disappear for good like this

good news is there seems to still be some congress members pushing for a funding renewal. maybe if we kick up enough of a shit about it, we can force congress to expedite getting this program restored. might even help if we start rallying about it idk

23 million americans are about to loose affordable internet access, surely there has to be something more we can do about it

for me personally, i use a verizon based lifeline service so i still have one more month of unlimited internet before i get demoted from to like 4.5GB a month. thats just enough for necessary and emergency use, but i wont be able to do much else with it. i live right by a library tho and have family that are close enough to visit often, so i'll get by somehow

but most ACP recipients aren't as lucky as i am. my sister has already lost her internet, and many others have as well. not everyone lives close to public wifi sources, and unfortunately not everyone that qualified for ACP will also qualify for lifeline. for many people this was their only way to afford internet, and its loss will be felt deeply for a very long time.

my condolences to those that have already lost their internet, wishing you all the best in the difficult times ahead of us. be joining you guys soon o7

RIP ACP

government is trying to ban tiktok meanwhile millions of poor and disabled americans are about to completely lose their internet access at the end of april because congress wont renew funding for the affordable connectivity program

hell fucking world

[keitrinkomfloukru]

I just realized something.

So, back when Republicans took the House in the 2022 election, one of things they did with it was kill that government internet assistance for low-income people, the Affordable Connectivity Program.

Since we failed to return control of Congress to Democrats last Tuesday, there's now no hope of getting it back.

I can afford internet out of pocket for maybe another couple months, but after that I'll be offline.