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# In Year-End Message, FCC Chairwoman Urges Affordable Connectivity Funding
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/in-year-end-message-fcc-chairwoman-urges-affordable-connectivity-funding/
- Published: 2023-12-29T22:35:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-11T06:10:06.000Z
- Description: The low-income internet subsidy could run out of funding as early as April 2024.
- Author: Jericho Casper
- Tags: Funding, #with-siderail, #premigration, #added-preview-divider

WASHINGTON, December 29, 2023 – Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman **Jessica Rosenworcel** again called for Congress to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program.

In a [year in review](https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/notes/2023/12/29/2023-review-note-chairwoman?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) note published Friday, Rosenworcel touted the FCC’s efforts to promote the ACP, which provides a $30 monthly internet discount to low-income

 households. She noted the more than $77 million in ACP outreach grants – money for organizations to advertise the program and get eligible households enrolled – the Commission awarded in 2023 and the 7 million new households that signed up for the program, bringing the total to more than 22 million.

“But our progress here cannot slow down – we need help from Congress to keep this groundbreaking program going,” she wrote.

[The ACP was](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-how-soon-will-the-affordable-connectivity-program-expire/) set up with a $14.6 billion allocation from the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act. About $3.6 billion of that remains, according to [a monitoring tool](https://acpdashboard.com/?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) developed by the advocacy group Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Rosenworcel testified to the Senate in September that the Commission expects that money [to dry up](https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-397034A1.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) as early as April 2024.

Republican leaders on the House and Senate commerce committees expressed some skepticism [about the program](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/republican-lawmakers-criticize-acp-as-wasteful-in-letter-to-fcc-chairwoman/) in a December 18 letter to Rosenworcel, calling the ACP “wasteful” because many enrolled low-income households were able to subscribe to broadband before receiving the subsidy. The FCC’s estimates put the number at 78 to 80, Rosenworcel testified at a November [House oversight hearing](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/11/fcc-pushes-congress-on-spectrum-auction-authority-acp-funding-at-oversight-hearing/), but she noted the figures are not exact, as providers are not required to collect that information when someone enrolls.

President **Joe Biden** asked Congress in October for $6 billion to [keep the fund afloat](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/10/biden-administration-asks-congress-for-6-billion-to-continue-acp/) through 2024\. Bipartisan [groups of lawmakers](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/08/push-for-more-acp-funding-precision-ag-connectivity-task-force-great-plains-communications-indiana-expansion/) and [broadband industry groups](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/09/experts-suggest-measures-to-protect-affordable-connectivity-program-at-senate-hearing/) have also [pushed for Congress](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/08/tribal-spectrum-licensing-call-for-more-acp-funding-32-million-for-west-virginia-broadband/) to refund the program, saying it will be an important tool for closing the digital divide and ensuring low-income subscribers stay online.

Providers who build new infrastructure with money from the Infrastructure Act’s $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program will be required to participate in the ACP, which [experts have said](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/06/lack-of-affordable-connectivity-fund-money-could-hobble-broadband-deployment-experts/) would help stabilize revenue for ISPs who build in the hard-to-serve areas targeted by BEAD.

Rep. **Yvette Clarke**, D-New York, hinted at introducing a bill before the new year to address the impending ACP shortfall during the FCC oversight hearing, but the legislation has not yet materialized.