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☆ Affordable internet gave Native Americans a way to preserve community and culture. Now it’s another broken promise
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Within weeks, the two-year-old US Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is set to run out of funds, and Congress appears unlikely to authorize more. Even as many older and rural Americans may be thrust into financial hardship due to the ACP’s collapse, indigenous communities could fare even worse. Because tribal members can now work remotely, they are no longer forced to move away from their communities to seek opportunity, they told CNN. For example, Mitchell said, after decades of decline in Mohawk fluency, a growing number of tribal members are now involved in online language immersion. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Seth Wenig/AP/FileInstead, some say, the collapse of the ACP will become another stain on the US government’s centuries-long track record of breaking promises to tribal communities.

Persons: Kelly, ”, “, “ That’s, ” Kelly, Mike Johnson, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen, John Fetterman, Fetterman’s, Jonathan Nez, “ I’ve, Loren King, Geoffrey Starks, ” Starks, Allyson Mitchell, Mitchell, Nez, ” Nez, Derrick VanSoolen’s, Choctaw, ” VanSoolen, they’re, Bois, Randy Long, Gary Johnson, Paul, Seth Wenig, I’ll Organizations: Washington CNN, Mohawk, CNN, Connectivity Program, FCC, Pennsylvania Democratic, Federal Communications Commission, Treasury, US Federal Communications Commission, Mohawk Networks, Navajo, ACP, Emergency, Program, Choctaw Nation, Bois Forte, Paul Bunyan Communications Locations: St, Lawrence, New York, Canadian, Mohawk, America, Navajo, Oklahoma, Oklahoma , Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, South Dakota, Arizona, Minnesota, Regis

☆ ACP, a digital lifeline for millions of Americans, is in jeopardy. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Cynthia George is one of millions of Americans in jeopardy of losing their home internet access. Yet Congress is nowhere close to approving the $6 billion that President Joe Biden says would renew the ACP and avert calamity for tens of millions of Americans. Courtesy Michelle McDonoughLike George, McDonough also expects she’ll have to cut back on groceries if the ACP goes away. The FCC’s Lifeline program, which dates to the Reagan administration, similarly gives low-income households a monthly discount on phone or internet service. “You’re taking ACP away from the farmers that can check the local produce prices and be able to reasonably negotiate their prices with retailers.

Persons: Cynthia George, Cynthia George George, Joe Biden, Pedro Ugarte, ”, Gigi Sohn, “, George, ” George, Michelle McDonough, McDonough, she’ll, doesn’t, “ I’m, ” McDonough, Mandel Ngan, Gary Johnson, Paul, —, Kamesha Scott, Louis, Scott, Megan Janicki, ” Janicki, Reagan, Biden, ” Blair Levin, Bill Clark, Levin, Jonathan Blaine, ” Blaine, Blaine Organizations: Washington CNN, MSN, Federal Communications Commission, Program, Lawmakers, ACP, FCC, Getty, CNN, ”, White, Comcast, George, Congress, Paul Bunyan Communications, American Library Association, Lifeline, House Republicans, New, Research, Republican, ” Lawmakers Locations: Washington ,, AFP, United States, Maine, Washington , DC, Minnesota, St, “, Lake Havasu City, Ariz, Vermont

The White House is pressing Congress to extend a subsidy program that helps one in six U.S. families afford internet and represents a key element of President Joe Biden's promise to deliver reliable broadband service to every American household. “It seems to be a bipartisan issue — internet access and the importance of it,” Johnson said. Biden has likened his promise of affordable internet for all American households to the New Deal-era effort to provide electricity to much of rural America. He traveled to North Carolina last month to tout its potential benefits, especially in wide swaths of the country that currently lack access to reliable, affordable internet service. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Biden, ”, Tom Perez, “, ” Perez, Gary Johnson, Paul, ” Johnson, ___ Harjai Organizations: Paul Bunyan Communications, Republican, Democratic, New, ACP, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Minnesota, America, North Carolina, Los Angeles

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