The House Appropriations Committee continued debating Thursday afternoon the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2025 funding bill, which increases the FCC’s annual allocation to $416 million and decreases the FTC’s annual funding to $388.7 million (see 2406050067). Communications policy lobbyists said panel Democrats might attempt removing riders from the measure that bar the FCC from using funding for implementing its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders, but they hadn’t sought votes on such amendments at our deadline.
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.
Aides to Senate Commerce Committee supporters of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) say revisions that the Commerce Department and military leaders endorsed Tuesday night will sway enough Republicans to ease the bill's path forward in the chamber. Senators told us much will depend on the language in a new substitute version of S-4207 that was still under development Wednesday afternoon. The bill would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for five years, allocate $7 billion to the expired affordable connectivity program during FY 2024 and fully pay for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
A Senate Commerce Committee spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon the panel remains on track to mark up the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) Wednesday, but negotiations between leaders signaled the situation remained extremely fluid, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce postponed two May markups of S-4207 amid strong opposition from top committee Republicans (see 2405010051). The measure would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029. It would lend the commission more than $10 billion in FY 2024 funding for the expired affordable connectivity program and fully pay for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. The Senate Commerce meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
The House Rules Committee will decide Tuesday about allowing a floor vote on an amendment from Reps. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., and Mike Carey, R-Ohio, to the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-8070) that mirrors an earlier bipartisan Senate proposal that allocates funding for the FCC’s expired affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. The Budzinski-Carey proposal, like the amendment Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., unsuccessfully sought to attach to the FAA reauthorization law in May (see 2405090052), allocates $6 billion in FY 2024 ACP stopgap funding and $3.08 billion for rip and replace. It also proposes major structural changes for ACP, including ending the initiative’s $100 device subsidy and altering its eligibility rules. Another amendment, led by Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., would direct that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's director “clarify and document the responsibilities and decision-making process” for the Integrated Public Alert Warning System “to deliver tsunami alerts to the Emergency Alert System.” House Rules’ meeting on HR-8070 amendments will begin at noon in H-313 in the Capitol.
ISPs and industry groups told the FCC that while competition and access remain strong in the broadband marketplace, additional regulation could harm future investment and deployment. Those views were included in feedback the FCC sought about its biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress (see 2404220050). In comments, some wireless groups urged making additional spectrum available. MVPDs and broadcasters said the FCC should recognize the increasing competition they face from streaming video and accordingly relax regulations. Comments were posted Thursday and Friday in docket 24-119.
Cash-strapped California has many challenges ahead as it seeks to connect everyone to broadband, said state, local and industry officials Wednesday at the livestreamed California Broadband Summit. Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said she has several concerns with state broadband policy, including that the California Public Utilities Commission is taking too long to distribute last-mile grants.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that evaluating assessments made on consumers' bills as part of funding the Universal Service Fund is her top issue amid calls for contribution reform (see 2404190043). Sworn in in September, Gomez also mentioned concerns about USF's future and the affordable connectivity program. She also urged ISPs to create their digital equity plans with "intentionality."
Congressional leaders haven't reached a consensus on how to resurrect the FCC's expired affordable connectivity program. In interviews this week, lawmakers pointed to a range of options, including an expected third attempt at a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week (see [2405310070]) of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207). The FCC formally shuttered ACP Friday after supporters on Capitol Hill failed numerous times at allocating stopgap funding (see 2403280001).
The California Public Utilities Commission should freeze California LifeLine specific support amounts (SSA) until state regulators and stakeholders can find a better way of calculating them, a consumer group and low-income wireless service providers said in comments Monday. The CPUC is considering freezing the SSA at $19 for wireline and wireless providers (see 2405070050). Meanwhile, consumer advocates defended their petition for temporary bridge funding through LifeLine that would help cover the loss of federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) support.
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing additional changes to the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) in hopes of jump-starting its prospects as a viable vehicle for resurrecting the FCC’s expired affordable connectivity program, lobbyists said in interviews. Committee leaders are hoping further revisions will allow them to raise S-4207 during a potential mid-June meeting, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce pulled S-4207 from consideration twice last month, including fully postponing a May 16 executive meeting (see 2405160066). The Biden administration and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel made a final call Friday for Congress to keep ACP running as the program’s time expired.