FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Steve Womack Chairman Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government U.S. House of Representatives 2000 Rayburn House Office Building (G Floor) Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Womack: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Steve Womack In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Steve Womack citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Steve Womack qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government U.S. House of Representatives 1036 Longworth Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Ranking Member Hoyer: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Chris Van Hollen Chairman Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government United States Senate S-128 The Capital Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Chairman Van Hollen: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Chris Van Hollen In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Chris Van Hollen citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Chris Van Hollen qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Bill Hagerty Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government United States Senate 125 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Ranking Member Hagerty: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Bill Hagerty In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Bill Hagerty citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Bill Hagerty qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Maria Cantwell Chair Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation United States Senate 428 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Madam Chair: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Maria Cantwell no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Maria Cantwell citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Maria Cantwell qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Ted Cruz Ranking Member Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation United States Senate 512 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Ranking Member Cruz: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Ted Cruz no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Ted Cruz citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Ted Cruz qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers Chair Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives 2125 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Madam Chair: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRWOMAN April 2, 2024 The Honorable Frank Pallone Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives 2322 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Ranking Member Pallone: I am writing to provide an update on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is on the brink of shutting down due to lack of funding. This program is the largest broadband affordability effort in our Nation’s history. Today, more than 23 million households nationwide count on it to get online and stay online, including vulnerable seniors, veterans, school-aged children, and residents of rural and Tribal communities. Unless Congress acts, April will be the final month that those who count on the ACP—one in six households across the country—will receive the full benefit toward the cost of their broadband service. There is broad support to provide additional funding for the ACP. The bipartisan, bicameral Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which was introduced in January 2024, has grown to over 215 co-sponsors, and was recently endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.1 But despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated. Due to the lack of additional funding, the Federal Communications Commission has been required to take steps to wind down the ACP. In April, ACP households will receive notices from their providers stating that this is the last month that they will see the federal government’s full ACP benefit on their broadband bill. These notices are required to help ACP households avoid service disruption and bill shock following the loss of the support provided by the program. Consumers are also receiving written notices about the end of the ACP via e-mail, text, or mail from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the entity that administers the program. These notifications may happen as many of your members are at home in their districts and hearing from their constituents about the benefits of the ACP. In May, ACP households will see changes in their bill. While full program support will 1 Press Release, Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus Backs Legislation to Protect Internet Access for Low-Income Families (Mar. 29, 2024) https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-problem-solvers- caucus-backs-legislation-to-protect-internet-access-for-low-income-families. Page 2—The Honorable Frank Pallone no longer be available due to the lack of additional funding from Congress, the limited remaining funds in the program will be applied to enrolled households, if their provider elects to participate in partial reimbursement, resulting in a discount estimated between $7 and $16 in May. Absent additional funding from Congress, the program will close. There will be no further ACP benefit after May. The impending loss of the ACP benefit, which has provided qualifying households $30 in monthly support for broadband and up to $75 in support for households on Tribal lands, is not trivial. Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all.2 These households are both urban and rural and young and old. What they have in common is that for the better part of the last three years, they have been able to consistently afford broadband service without interruption because Congress set up the ACP and its predecessor known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home. They also reflect the Commission’s survey results I shared with you in my March 4, 2024 letter, demonstrating that 77 percent of households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. To illustrate the extent of the service loss that may result from the end of this program, the attachment to this letter provides updated data on the number of enrolled ACP households in each state, territory, and congressional district. Based on estimates of state-by-state participation rates, more than three-quarters of the states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have ACP participation rates among eligible households of 30 percent or higher.3 As these numbers suggest, the end of the ACP will have broad impact. But it is worth noting that they will have special impact on certain vulnerable populations, including senior 2 See, e.g., Madelene Ngo, Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/us/politics/internet-subsidies-affordable-connecticity-program.html (reporting that a consumer is considering cutting back utility use and groceries to maintain access to broadband); Brian Fung, Millions of Americans Could Soon Lose Home Internet Access if Lawmakers Don’t Act (Mar. 23, 2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html (detailing choices households are considering as ACP ends); Payton Reeves, EverythingLubbock.com, West Texans Worried about Future of Affordable Connectivity Program (Mar. 27, 2024), https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local- news/west-texans-worried-about-future-of-affordable-connectivity-program/ (describing the impact of the loss of the ACP benefit on West Texans); Hojung Ryu, Affordable Connectivity Program Shutting Down (Mar. 26, 2024) https://www.witn.com/2024/03/26/affordable-connectivity-program-shutting-down/ (discussing the effect of the end of ACP on seniors); Edward C. Baig and Ed Waldman, Families, Older Adults Worry About Paying for Internet When Affordable Connectivity Program Ends (Feb. 14, 2024) https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal- technology/info-2021/fcc-subsidy-helps-broadband-internet-access.html. 3 See Education Superhighway, ACP Enrollment Dashboard (last visited Mar. 30, 2024) https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/no-home-left-offline/acp-data/. Page 3—The Honorable Frank Pallone citizens. We know that nearly half of ACP households are led by someone over the age of 50.4 The ACP and the broadband service it supports is “need to have” for many seniors, who depend on the program for managing their health and maintaining access to their medical teams. In fact, the Commission’s survey of ACP households revealed that nearly 75 percent of respondents aged 50 and over reported that they rely on their ACP-supported internet to access healthcare.5 When asked how they would respond if their broadband bill increased by $30, roughly three- quarters of respondents in this age group reported that the increase would force them to make changes to the broadband service they receive with the ACP’s help, including canceling it completely. The end of the ACP will also have a detrimental impact on veterans.6 One study has shown more than four million households with an active or former military member are enrolled in the ACP.7 Since its inception, the ACP has played a critical role helping low-income veterans obtain the connectivity they need for telehealth services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as job training, employment and VA benefits.8 The end of the ACP would place these individuals at special risk of losing access to the broadband they need for telemedicine and modern healthcare and other important VA services. For families with school children, the ACP has also played an important role in addressing the Homework Gap. As the pandemic made all too clear, there are many students who struggle to keep up with their assignments because they lack the broadband required to complete schoolwork at home. The ACP has helped many of these students avoid the need to sit outside fast-food restaurants and in library parking lots just to access a free Wi-Fi signal to do their homework. Approximately 3.4 million households seeking to enroll in the ACP indicated participation in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Programs as one of the ways they 4 USAC, Additional ACP Data, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and- claims-tracker/additional-acp-data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 5 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey. 6 See Ken Olsen, Lack of Funding Threatens Discounted Internet for More Than One Million Veterans (Feb. 5, 2024) https://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/261056/lack-funding-threatens-discounted-internet-service-more-1- million-veterans. 7 Benenson Strategy Group, The Impact and Importance of the Affordable Connectivity Program Summary of Survey Results (Feb. 2024) https://ac32b1ba-8f5b-411f-91ab- b7ae9a046606.usrfiles.com/ugd/ac32b1_16c37c6b98324f4d903cdf3f290e443c.pdf (estimating that 18 percent of ACP households have an active or former military member). This report also estimates that nearly half of ACP households are military families. 8 Leonie Heyworth MD, MPH, Nilesh Shah MD, Kevin Galpin MD, 20 Years of Telehealth in the Veterans Administration: Taking Stock of Our Past and Charting our Future, Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 39 (Feb. 20, 2024) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08617-w (describing the VA’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for veterans, including screening veterans for eligibility for the Affordable Connectivity Program); Letter from James “Spider” Marks, Ret. Army US Major General to the Chair and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs (Feb. 8, 2024). https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2024/02/an- urgent-plea-for-the-continuation-of-the-acp-to-assist-veterans/, (stressing the need for additional ACP funding to ensure veterans have connectivity to access VA services). Page 4—The Honorable Frank Pallone qualify for the ACP.9 These are the same households where the loss of service following the ACP could easily worsen the Homework Gap, leaving kids without the broadband they need to succeed in school.10 The ACP has also helped narrow the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas, which generally have lower broadband subscription rates and higher broadband costs along with higher poverty rates, as compared to non-rural and non-Tribal areas. Roughly 15 percent of all households in the program are from rural areas.11 The Commission’s survey suggests that prior to participating in the ACP these households were more likely to have no broadband access at all or inconsistent connectivity than those in non-rural areas.12 Since the inception of the ACP, we have seen participation among households in Tribal areas increase by 136 percent.13 With the end of the ACP, this progress is now at risk. In what is perverse, both rural and Tribal communities will likely see new broadband deployment in remote areas, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but persistent challenges with cost—absent the ACP—may limit the ability of this investment to close the digital divide. To fully participate in the digital age economy, every household needs access to broadband. When Congress asked the Commission to set up the ACP to further this goal, we did so in record time. The result has been the most consequential broadband affordability effort in our history. I want you to know that the agency remains ready to keep this program running, should Congress provide additional funding. We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end. Sincerely, Jessica Rosenworcel 9 USAC, Applicant Selected Eligibility Criteria on National Verifier Applications, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/additional-acp- data/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). 10 Lauraine Langreo, The “Homework Gap” is About to Get Worse. What Should Schools Do? (Feb. 9, 2024) https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-homework-gap-is-about-to-get-worse-what-should-schools-do/2024/02 (“Educators and advocates say the possible sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program could worsen the so- called ‘homework gap’”); Anna Merod, As the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsets, what’s next for schools? (Mar. 5, 2024) https://www.k12dive.com/news/affordable-connectivity-program-ends-schools-role/708797/ (“As signs of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end become increasingly apparent, advocates worry the deep division of digital access for K-12 students will be exacerbated.”). 11 Rural areas are defined as non-metro counties determined by the USDA’s 2023 rural-urban continuum codes: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-continuum-codes/. 12 FCC, ACP Consumer Survey at 9, https://www.fcc.gov/acp-survey (providing survey results for rural respondents concerning access to internet prior to the ACP). 13 USAC, ACP Enrollment and Claims Tracker, Total Households at Enrollment Freeze, https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/acp-enrollment-and-claims-tracker/ (last visited Mar. 30, 2024). ACP Congressional District Enrollment Data (as of February 8, 2024 enrollment freeze) State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Alaska Total At-Large 24,784 Alabama 01 48,026 Alabama 02 69,414 Alabama 03 62,286 Alabama 04 59,341 Alabama 05 37,246 Alabama 06 39,322 Alabama 07 98,007 Alabama Total 413,668 Arkansas 01 59,514 Arkansas 02 46,126 Arkansas 03 51,990 Arkansas 04 57,370 Arkansas Total 215,017 American Samoa Total N/A 1,684 Arizona 01 39,047 Arizona 02 61,106 Arizona 03 93,322 Arizona 04 52,424 Arizona 05 23,688 Arizona 06 50,033 Arizona 07 103,989 Arizona 08 50,271 Arizona 09 48,227 Arizona Total 522,188 California 01 60,591 California 02 27,871 California 03 21,367 California 04 27,295 California 05 39,052 California 06 54,075 California 07 50,544 California 08 41,671 California 09 48,104 California 10 15,926 California 11 40,853 California 12 42,377 1 Within each state, a de minimis number of households could not be assigned to a specific congressional district for a variety of reasons. For example, the address may not be in the database used for geocoding. Accordingly, for each state, the congressional district enrollment data may not add up to the state total. 1 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households California 13 63,622 California 14 23,450 California 15 20,279 California 16 17,037 California 17 18,195 California 18 42,515 California 19 23,619 California 20 57,368 California 21 88,444 California 22 108,970 California 23 92,209 California 24 38,202 California 25 111,964 California 26 40,522 California 27 69,862 California 28 52,991 California 29 90,737 California 30 63,788 California 31 84,074 California 32 45,260 California 33 97,955 California 34 99,289 California 35 74,699 California 36 28,355 California 37 106,199 California 38 57,701 California 39 84,458 California 40 26,703 California 41 52,929 California 42 89,380 California 43 103,060 California 44 76,214 California 45 60,061 California 46 79,311 California 47 30,038 California 48 42,723 California 49 33,372 California 50 41,761 California 51 55,368 California 52 82,836 California Total 2,945,282 Colorado 01 46,257 2 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Colorado 02 16,899 Colorado 03 51,292 Colorado 04 17,705 Colorado 05 31,337 Colorado 06 30,835 Colorado 07 24,513 Colorado 08 32,648 Colorado Total 251,506 Connecticut 01 49,651 Connecticut 02 31,964 Connecticut 03 38,667 Connecticut 04 25,915 Connecticut 05 40,314 Connecticut Total 186,531 District of Columbia Total N/A 63,806 Delaware Total At-Large 52,446 Florida 01 56,563 Florida 02 52,720 Florida 03 74,090 Florida 04 69,027 Florida 05 29,731 Florida 06 79,334 Florida 07 64,322 Florida 08 64,297 Florida 09 81,182 Florida 10 99,196 Florida 11 45,298 Florida 12 85,107 Florida 13 66,261 Florida 14 102,378 Florida 15 83,963 Florida 16 54,588 Florida 17 30,456 Florida 18 85,038 Florida 19 25,876 Florida 20 71,297 Florida 21 31,729 Florida 22 41,129 Florida 23 23,010 Florida 24 79,405 Florida 25 29,240 Florida 26 67,504 3 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Florida 27 52,999 Florida 28 62,075 Florida Total 1,707,856 Georgia 01 50,506 Georgia 02 99,447 Georgia 03 57,486 Georgia 04 52,061 Georgia 05 67,696 Georgia 06 11,081 Georgia 07 26,673 Georgia 08 69,038 Georgia 09 34,089 Georgia 10 51,323 Georgia 11 24,096 Georgia 12 64,509 Georgia 13 61,717 Georgia 14 52,702 Georgia Total 722,473 Guam Total N/A 1,322 Hawaii 01 27,516 Hawaii 02 33,201 Hawaii Total 60,721 Iowa 01 32,479 Iowa 02 30,420 Iowa 03 33,214 Iowa 04 27,927 Iowa Total 124,054 Idaho 01 28,723 Idaho 02 25,230 Idaho Total 53,962 Illinois 01 82,060 Illinois 02 79,530 Illinois 03 30,927 Illinois 04 35,725 Illinois 05 15,941 Illinois 06 21,720 Illinois 07 84,888 Illinois 08 18,912 Illinois 09 26,896 Illinois 10 21,407 Illinois 11 18,186 Illinois 12 47,041 4 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Illinois 13 78,026 Illinois 14 26,384 Illinois 15 31,765 Illinois 16 24,935 Illinois 17 60,176 Illinois Total 704,532 Indiana 01 45,455 Indiana 02 37,787 Indiana 03 37,468 Indiana 04 28,317 Indiana 05 41,988 Indiana 06 40,852 Indiana 07 87,054 Indiana 08 60,542 Indiana 09 46,493 Indiana Total 425,968 Kansas 01 27,974 Kansas 02 42,865 Kansas 03 17,264 Kansas 04 45,625 Kansas Total 133,746 Kentucky 01 67,464 Kentucky 02 65,303 Kentucky 03 86,402 Kentucky 04 52,868 Kentucky 05 111,013 Kentucky 06 72,603 Kentucky Total 455,685 Louisiana 01 69,115 Louisiana 02 136,411 Louisiana 03 88,209 Louisiana 04 90,447 Louisiana 05 98,379 Louisiana 06 76,201 Louisiana Total 558,780 Massachusetts 01 73,172 Massachusetts 02 51,669 Massachusetts 03 42,217 Massachusetts 04 29,616 Massachusetts 05 21,922 Massachusetts 06 24,421 Massachusetts 07 58,031 5 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Massachusetts 08 37,576 Massachusetts 09 29,249 Massachusetts Total 367,884 Maryland 01 34,435 Maryland 02 31,966 Maryland 03 20,575 Maryland 04 34,706 Maryland 05 21,036 Maryland 06 29,282 Maryland 07 99,114 Maryland 08 16,595 Maryland Total 287,722 Maine 01 36,715 Maine 02 61,917 Maine Total 98,639 Michigan 01 71,169 Michigan 02 65,158 Michigan 03 51,873 Michigan 04 65,208 Michigan 05 53,825 Michigan 06 36,382 Michigan 07 43,264 Michigan 08 100,733 Michigan 09 42,414 Michigan 10 76,811 Michigan 11 52,031 Michigan 12 131,627 Michigan 13 150,732 Michigan Total 941,244 Minnesota 01 35,012 Minnesota 02 19,857 Minnesota 03 19,752 Minnesota 04 39,321 Minnesota 05 43,639 Minnesota 06 24,896 Minnesota 07 27,866 Minnesota 08 34,564 Minnesota Total 244,916 Missouri 01 103,369 Missouri 02 26,484 Missouri 03 33,835 Missouri 04 37,067 6 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Missouri 05 60,564 Missouri 06 33,431 Missouri 07 36,935 Missouri 08 63,799 Missouri Total 395,504 Northern Mariana Islands Total N/A 3,218 Mississippi 01 46,470 Mississippi 02 94,845 Mississippi 03 50,123 Mississippi 04 52,815 Mississippi Total 244,280 Montana 01 26,170 Montana 02 28,357 Montana Total 54,539 North Carolina 01 81,436 North Carolina 02 34,284 North Carolina 03 62,708 North Carolina 04 59,004 North Carolina 05 71,107 North Carolina 06 80,122 North Carolina 07 83,292 North Carolina 08 66,991 North Carolina 09 74,771 North Carolina 10 72,921 North Carolina 11 44,669 North Carolina 12 60,598 North Carolina 13 56,372 North Carolina 14 53,086 North Carolina Total 901,394 North Dakota Total At-Large 17,742 Nebraska 01 31,398 Nebraska 02 36,997 Nebraska 03 27,729 Nebraska Total 96,140 New Hampshire 01 18,379 New Hampshire 02 20,458 New Hampshire Total 38,859 New Jersey 01 36,565 New Jersey 02 36,716 New Jersey 03 16,068 New Jersey 04 19,287 7 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households New Jersey 05 13,915 New Jersey 06 25,323 New Jersey 07 10,836 New Jersey 08 39,556 New Jersey 09 40,346 New Jersey 10 65,047 New Jersey 11 11,578 New Jersey 12 22,625 New Jersey Total 337,969 New Mexico 01 48,622 New Mexico 02 71,773 New Mexico 03 63,507 New Mexico Total 184,131 Nevada 01 91,835 Nevada 02 52,770 Nevada 03 53,079 Nevada 04 78,304 Nevada Total 276,024 New York 01 14,337 New York 02 28,493 New York 03 18,800 New York 04 22,577 New York 05 82,508 New York 06 66,799 New York 07 83,501 New York 08 102,343 New York 09 65,800 New York 10 67,186 New York 11 58,908 New York 12 47,034 New York 13 160,853 New York 14 89,852 New York 15 140,471 New York 16 48,195 New York 17 23,490 New York 18 47,506 New York 19 68,648 New York 20 80,800 New York 21 77,879 New York 22 80,695 New York 23 64,571 New York 24 71,418 8 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households New York 25 79,445 New York 26 100,028 New York Total 1,792,187 Ohio 01 76,637 Ohio 02 79,850 Ohio 03 81,033 Ohio 04 64,740 Ohio 05 69,887 Ohio 06 69,436 Ohio 07 38,616 Ohio 08 67,980 Ohio 09 74,865 Ohio 10 100,751 Ohio 11 135,883 Ohio 12 67,783 Ohio 13 87,139 Ohio 14 71,297 Ohio 15 71,134 Ohio Total 1,157,054 Oklahoma 01 88,116 Oklahoma 02 77,632 Oklahoma 03 63,992 Oklahoma 04 62,304 Oklahoma 05 59,792 Oklahoma Total 351,879 Oregon 01 30,286 Oregon 02 57,304 Oregon 03 39,749 Oregon 04 53,891 Oregon 05 26,267 Oregon 06 31,463 Oregon Total 238,974 Pennsylvania 01 18,287 Pennsylvania 02 88,723 Pennsylvania 03 95,732 Pennsylvania 04 18,858 Pennsylvania 05 45,866 Pennsylvania 06 29,598 Pennsylvania 07 42,528 Pennsylvania 08 50,973 Pennsylvania 09 41,026 Pennsylvania 10 43,240 9 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Pennsylvania 11 28,003 Pennsylvania 12 51,694 Pennsylvania 13 37,526 Pennsylvania 14 43,671 Pennsylvania 15 34,578 Pennsylvania 16 62,539 Pennsylvania 17 30,852 Pennsylvania Total 763,742 Puerto Rico Total N/A 664,623 Rhode Island 01 46,527 Rhode Island 02 36,951 Rhode Island Total 83,516 South Carolina 01 25,095 South Carolina 02 51,978 South Carolina 03 61,347 South Carolina 04 66,292 South Carolina 05 51,007 South Carolina 06 78,332 South Carolina 07 81,612 South Carolina Total 415,680 South Dakota Total At-Large 24,194 Tennessee 01 66,903 Tennessee 02 41,151 Tennessee 03 45,391 Tennessee 04 44,562 Tennessee 05 23,604 Tennessee 06 43,462 Tennessee 07 38,463 Tennessee 08 53,875 Tennessee 09 72,136 Tennessee Total 429,621 Texas 01 35,881 Texas 02 22,505 Texas 03 20,467 Texas 04 23,266 Texas 05 36,865 Texas 06 37,259 Texas 07 32,330 Texas 08 26,100 Texas 09 51,356 Texas 10 20,386 Texas 11 38,911 10 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Texas 12 39,929 Texas 13 40,570 Texas 14 45,292 Texas 15 93,194 Texas 16 81,420 Texas 17 40,535 Texas 18 58,186 Texas 19 35,198 Texas 20 78,599 Texas 21 24,331 Texas 22 19,533 Texas 23 49,633 Texas 24 19,391 Texas 25 37,143 Texas 26 18,222 Texas 27 59,965 Texas 28 89,981 Texas 29 47,104 Texas 30 74,631 Texas 31 29,766 Texas 32 54,624 Texas 33 72,246 Texas 34 114,337 Texas 35 67,253 Texas 36 38,291 Texas 37 25,999 Texas 38 17,790 Texas Total 1,718,552 Utah 01 19,021 Utah 02 26,205 Utah 03 14,786 Utah 04 15,038 Utah Total 75,088 Virginia 01 26,699 Virginia 02 46,524 Virginia 03 95,676 Virginia 04 73,706 Virginia 05 45,906 Virginia 06 43,026 Virginia 07 26,901 Virginia 08 28,486 Virginia 09 58,843 11 State Congressional District1 Total ACP Households Virginia 10 10,592 Virginia 11 13,994 Virginia Total 470,457 Virgin Islands Total N/A 6,780 Vermont Total At-Large 25,923 Washington 01 16,023 Washington 02 28,745 Washington 03 43,529 Washington 04 64,851 Washington 05 45,650 Washington 06 36,238 Washington 07 27,149 Washington 08 21,261 Washington 09 39,617 Washington 10 34,940 Washington Total 358,024 Wisconsin 01 60,115 Wisconsin 02 38,398 Wisconsin 03 42,384 Wisconsin 04 122,313 Wisconsin 05 32,591 Wisconsin 06 44,992 Wisconsin 07 41,655 Wisconsin 08 44,270 Wisconsin Total 426,733 West Virginia 01 75,083 West Virginia 02 53,464 West Virginia Total 128,571 Wyoming Total At-Large 21,736 12