Washington is battling over whether to keep the program [Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP] going — potentially cutting off more than 22 million households from a subsidy they’ve come to rely on. It launched with bipartisan support in 2020, but is now trapped in a partisan war between Democrats who want to renew it, and Republicans worried it will let President Joe Biden take too much of a victory lap during a campaign year.
Known officially as the Affordable Connectivity Program, the federal subsidy that keeps Hayden’s broadband on is predicted to run out of money by April. And because of its unique launch — initially, as emergency pandemic relief signed by former President Donald Trump and later codified in Biden’s infrastructure law — it’s a large federal benefit with no long-term funding mechanism and no clear way to pay for it going forward.
If Congress can’t find a way to fund the program by spring, the federal government will have to quickly unwind it. A failure could also come with political consequences at a critical time ahead of 2024, giving voters in swing states a cause for frustration at politicians yanking away aid.
The article goes on in great detail and talks about efforts to stop this from happening. The frustration is that broadband is hugely a bipartisan issue. It would be better to see it used to connect parties and people than to have politics disconnect us.