If Congress doesn’t act now many Americans might lose broadband access

The United States has lately gotten serious about broadband expansion, with the federal government spending tens of billions of dollars to deploy services all over the country — especially in rural areas, where coverage is sparse. But how widely connectivity is available matters little if consumers can’t afford it. And unless Congress acts fast, many won’t be able to. Funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program will lapse by the end of April because Congress has managed neither to devise a permanent solution nor to provide stopgap funding. The former would, of course, be preferable — but for the moment only the latter appears politically possible. President Biden urged congressional appropriators this fall to fund the program through the rest of 2024; in response, a bipartisan group of legislators devised the $7 billion Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act. While there’s ample support in the Senate, where Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) are backers, and while it could pass the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has refused to bring it to the floor. His hesitation makes little sense. Are there  changes the speaker wants to the program, could tweaks persuade him to bring an extension to the floor? He should say. Millions of people’s access to health care, employment, education and more depends on his answer.