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After many grueling months, Free Press Action and our allies achieved a major win in the fight for affordable high-speed internet after the House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The bill will soon head to President Biden’s desk for his signature — and become law. Since you’re a dedicated Free Press Action activist, we want to remind you just how critical your support has been in achieving this unprecedented victory toward ending the digital divide.
The infrastructure bill’s benefits are a huge step forward for universally affordable high-speed internet. The legislation includes: $40 billion to build broadband networks in unserved and underserved communities. $14.2 billion to make the internet more affordable. The bill makes the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit program more permanent and renames it the Affordable Connectivity Program. This investment is a HUGE win for low-income people, people of color, Indigenous tribes and rural communities. It will mean money in people’s pockets to ensure they can afford to pay for high-speed internet access. But while the infrastructure bill does include pricing transparency and nondiscrimination provisions, they aren’t as robust and comprehensive as they could be — and passing this law still means there’s a ton of work to do at the FCC and other agencies that will decide where and how this money is spent. So we’ll need to keep fighting to close the digital divide for good.
A key area where we’re seeing the impact of those gaps is data caps. Even with the Emergency Broadband Benefit program’s benefits and protections, internet service providers can still use ultra-restrictive data caps and other predatory practices to push exorbitant fees on their customers.
Those data caps are nothing more than a punitive cash grab — but to investigate restrictive data caps, the FCC must first restore its Title II authority.
And to make that happen, we need a fully staffed commission.
With your support, Free Press Action can keep up the pressure on the Senate to confirm President Biden’s nominees for the FCC so the agency can roll out the new programs in the infrastructure bill, regulate corporate internet service providers’ unjust practices and punitive fees, and close the digital divide for good.
If you can, please consider making a donation today to support our work to ensure that all people have access to affordable, high-speed internet.
Thank you for everything you do for our movement.
In solidarity,
Heather and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
P.S. At Free Press Action, we don’t take a single dollar from business, government or political parties — our work is powered by the generosity of charitable foundations and people like you. If you can, please donate today to sustain our work to expand access to affordable, high-speed internet for all. |
