The FCC has stopped accepting new ACP applications and warned users it could wind down the program as soon as April.
But with funding running out and Congress mired in another budget showdown, the Federal Communications Commission stopped accepting new ACP applications on Feb. 8 and warned users it will wind down the program as soon as April if lawmakers don't act. Indeed, broadband has become such a part of daily life that it's become essential not just for job assignments but school assignments, registering for government programs, banking, paying bills and renewing prescriptions, experts said.
"For a lot of people, they'll find that there's just not a cheap enough plan to keep accessing broadband," Parker said.A bipartisan group of lawmakers hope to resurrect the program by attaching a $7 billion measure to a larger spending package, and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in a recent op-ed in The Hill pleaded with members of Congress to approve it quickly.