Twenty-three million families will either have to pay more for internet or cancel their subscriptions altogether if a federal subsidy program to help with the monthly bill runs out of money.

President Joe Biden recently traveled to North Carolina to promote his goal of affordable internet access for all Americans, but the promise for 23 million families across the U.S. is on shaky ground.

That’s because a subsidy that helps people with limited resources afford internet access is set to expire this spring.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides $30 a month for qualifying families in most places and $75 on tribal lands, will run out of money by the end of April if Congress doesn’t extend it further.

“I think this should be high priority for Congress,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat who has worked with a bipartisan group of governors to promote the program, said in a phone interview. “To many families, $30 a month is a big deal.”

    • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      7 months ago

      Maybe I’m missing the part where the federal program will choose one state to continue funding and exclude the others. Can you help me find it please?

      Otherwise this would look like it’s either a failure to comprehend on your part or an attempt to misinterpret what’s being reported in a way to stir up discontent among people who just skip from the headline and blurb to the comments here.

        • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          7 months ago

          Biden is doing victory laps because he’s trying to bring it back in one state that is coincidentally one he has to win but polls horribly.

          This part. Show me where he’s bringing it back for one state and not others.

            • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
              32·
              7 months ago

              I’ve seen you make incorrect claims about what he’s doing based on your misunderstanding of what is in the article that started this thread. Your clarification is that you also misinterpreted a different article. I can accept that acknowledgement and hopefully now you are better informed.

              That’s the charitable interpretation anyway, not enough information yet to say that you’re engaging in bad faith.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
      21·
      7 months ago

      I love how Biden gets the blame for the Republican Congress doing next to nothing legislatively, figuratively sitting cross armed on the floor for at least FOUR MONTHS now. Also the Republicans being at the direction of Agent Orange not to pass anything that could make Biden look good. Hooray.

      I’m not impressed with everything that Biden has managed to do during then, but it kind of amazes me that he could accomplish anything at all against this level of wilful obstruction against the US legislative process.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        7 months ago

        but it kind of amazes me that he could accomplish anything at all against this level of wilful obstruction against the US legislative process.

        You’re talking about the guy who spent all last primary saying he could negotiate with Republicans…

        He pretty much gives them everything they want the few times he tries to make a deal, like wanting to give a president the power to close borders whenever they feel like. You know eventually a Republican will be president right? Yet Dems get nothing out of that deal, Biden is just giving away something trump dreamed he could do, for precisely zero reasons.

        • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
          1·
          7 months ago

          He may have a record of being able to negotiate with Republicans in the past, but now he’s dealing with a bunch of stubborn babies, which I don’t know if Biden is cut out for it.

    • Melkath@kbin.social
      44·
      7 months ago

      Kinda like when he sanctioned 4 people in Israel and went “there, fine, I sanctioned Israel. Happy?”

      Or when he started to actually run the program he failed to run for 3 years and said “there, fine, I am forgiving student loan debt. Happy?”

      Or when he passed legislation to make it illegal for railway workers to strike in perpetuity and got them a 1 time pay raise and said “there, fine, I fixed the dangerous and unfair practices of the railway companies. Happy?”