A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to prevent millions of Americans from losing access to the internet, as funds allocated for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a plan to help low-income families pay the cost of the internet, will run out at the end of May.
The more than 23 million beneficiaries of the subsidy receive between $30 and $75 per month to pay internet costs. Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) are leading the bipartisan push to get Congress to adopt the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which would maintain the payments through the end of this year.
One million veterans depend on the program
Fitzpatrick called on his party colleagues to join the project and declared that approximately 1 million veterans depend on the program. "This is a pro-veterans bill," he said, adding that it is necessary so that former service members "have access to their telehealth services":
A lot of mental health patients, a lot of veterans with PTSD, rely on this. ... We live in a very increasingly digital world. Broadband internet access has become a necessity, no longer a luxury. ... So, that's the appeal I’m making to my Republican colleagues. This is a pro-veterans bill. And you're looking at a million veterans you're gonna leave behind on the health care front if we let this program expire.
The bill has 206 Democratic and 24 Republican co-sponsors. Clarke stated:
I think for many who are economically burdened, this has been a literal lifeline. ... Without the subsidy, something has to give. And it may be broadband, unfortunately, but you have to feed your family. You have to purchase medications. You have to travel. Cost of living has gone up in all of these areas. And knowing that you could depend on that subsidy … it makes all the difference in the world.
