{"id":2234636,"date":"2024-05-01T14:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/faa-bill-faces-senate-holdup-over-expiring-affordable-internet-program\/"},"modified":"2024-05-01T14:10:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:10:02","slug":"faa-bill-faces-senate-holdup-over-expiring-affordable-internet-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/faa-bill-faces-senate-holdup-over-expiring-affordable-internet-program\/","title":{"rendered":"FAA bill faces Senate holdup over expiring affordable internet program"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffaa-bill-faces-senate-holdup-over-expiring-affordable-internet-program%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2234636&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE \u2013 <\/strong>At least two senators are demanding that a program subsidizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/broadband\/\">high-speed internet<\/a> for lower-income families be extended as part of the airline safety bill making its way through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\">Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) plans to keep the upper chamber from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/2985261\/senators-demand-add-ons-faa-bill\/\">fast-tracking the bill<\/a>, a five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, unless his amendment on the subsidy, known as the Affordable Connectivity Program, gets a vote on the Senate floor. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), another lead co-sponsor, is also pressing leadership for a funding extension.<\/p>\n<p>The program, which expires in May, enjoys bipartisan support, in part because it affects voters in rural states and districts. But it has faced opposition from Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the ranking member on the Commerce Committee, who say it has been subject to fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Vance called an amendment vote the most \u201cplausible pathway at this point\u201d considering dynamics on the committee, which has jurisdiction over the program. Of the 23 million households benefiting from the subsidy, 1 million of them are in Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a good chance that we\u2019ll be able to reauthorize it, but you know, we\u2019ll see,\u201d Vance said on Wednesday. \u201cPeter Welch and I are working it pretty hard, and we\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He and Welch, along with a few other senators, <a href=\"https:\/\/clarke.house.gov\/clarke-fitzpatrick-welch-vance-rosen-and-cramer-introduce-bipartisan-bicameral-extension-of-the-affordable-connectivity-program-acp-to-continue-closing-the-digital-divide\/\">co-sponsored<\/a> legislation in January that would provide another $7 billion for the program, in effect extending it through the rest of 2024. Vance told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> he would prevent the Senate from reaching an agreement to speed up FAA passage unless the measure gets a vote.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, a spokesman for Welch said the senator is looking at \u201cevery possible option\u201d to keep the internet program funded, noting the seniors and veterans who rely on it.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Sen. Vance has said he is against the aid package. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) doubted there would be off-topic amendments on the FAA bill, which needs to pass before it expires on May 10, but he noted that could change as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) negotiates a time agreement.<\/p>\n<p>There were close to two dozen amendments filed for the FAA bill as of Tuesday, some of which were non-germane.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchumer at least goes into this with the understanding that there are going to be no extraneous amendments,\u201d Durbin said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Congress made a one-time, $14 billion allocation for the program in 2022 as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law but has so far ignored President Joe Biden\u2019s request for an extension.<\/p>\n<p>The internet subsidy, $30 for most qualifying households, will be slashed starting on Wednesday before expiring fully at the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz panned the idea of reauthorizing the program in a brief interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, calling it rife with \u201csignificant fraud and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He argued the subsidy had gone to consumers who already had broadband access rather than underserved Americans and expressed openness to the extension if it was targeted to the latter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs currently drafted, it doesn\u2019t do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Vance said he was not wedded to the bill he introduced and would be willing to make changes that broaden its support in Congress.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo program is perfect, including the ACP,\u201d he said, responding to the abuse cited by Cruz. \u201cBut I think it, by and large, is very good. And it serves the interest of a lot of people in rural areas all across our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m certainly open to changing it, but some version of ACP reauthorization really needs to happen in my view,\u201d Vance added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE \u2013 At least two senators are demanding that a program subsidizing high-speed internet for lower-income families be extended as part of the airline safety bill making its way through the Senate. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) plans to keep the upper chamber from fast-tracking the bill, a five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, unless<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2651,"featured_media":2234637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24114657411541-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24114657411541-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2651"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2234637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}