Without extension, 23 million households would lose internet access

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America's Work Force Union Podcast AWF Communications Workers of America

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Frank Mathews

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Frank Mathews, Administrative Director of the Communication Workers of America District 4, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the potential end to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and the plan’s possible extension.

Nearly 23 million households can no longer afford high-speed internet access after recent news that funding for the ACP has expired. Mathews explained what happened in Congress that led to no further funding for the plan. The program was funded through April 2024, but because there were no funding continuances from Congress, May will be the final month of the program.

This impacts households without broadband access and negatively affects internet service providers and telecommunications companies, as they are losing a guaranteed source of revenue from the $30-a-month plan for each household. With that lack of revenue coming in, this also discourages these companies from trying to establish broadband networks in rural areas.

Finally, Mathews discussed a proposed extension, the Bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension, that could save the program. The extension would provide an additional $7 billion. Mathews discussed a press release from Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) urging their colleagues to pass the extension. According to Mathews, nearly 58 percent of the voting public supports the program's continuation. The removal of ACP would be far more detrimental to the future of the American economy, said Mathews.

For more on the ACP and extension, please listen to the show above.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

Without extension, 23 million households would lose internet access

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