Don't Renew the FCC's Failed COVID Subsidy

Congress is considering new, non-emergency spending programs that would exacerbate the federal deficit. Some of these programs have a demonstrable history of not working as intended or espoused. Consider the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The program is scheduled to end soon. With the support of the White House, a $7 billion spending bill has been introduced in the Senate to provide additional funding for ACP through the end of the year. Before the COVID pandemic, the rollout of broadband service in America was widely viewed as a success and largely achieved without federally-appropriated funds. That perception changed with COVID. Initially passed in 2021, ACP had a budget of $3.7 billion to help families, often confined to their homes, pay for broadband connections during the COVID pandemic. Our broadband networks were built with private funds and services are eagerly purchased with private funds. To believe in the necessity of ACP is to believe in the myth that the private sector has failed, and that, consequently, the American economic experiment has failed.

[Harold Furchtgott-Roth is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Kirk Arner is a legal fellow at the Hudson Institute.]