Senator Peters joined 31 other senators in urging Congress for more funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program Oct. 20, 2023
LANSING, Mich. — Due to its popularity, funds for the Affordable Connectivity Program are set to be depleted within the coming months.
In an effort to gain more funding, Senator Gary Peters (D - MI) joined 31 Senators Friday in pressing Congress to extend funding for the program, which provides high-speed internet to over 800,000 Michigan households.
“Failing to extend funding would be irresponsible,” the senators wrote in a letter to Congress. “We urge you to extend funding for the ACP in a government appropriations package and include a long-term solution that ensures efficient spending of taxpayer dollars."
Friday's request comes after it was announced in June that Michigan would be receiving more than $1.5 billion in federal funding from the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program, or BEAD, to increase high-speed access, according to the Senator's office.
In addition to the $1.5 billion, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, awarded more than $61 million in federal funding to the Peninsula Fiber Network to help connect unserved and underserved communities to high-speed internet, officials said.
This project would place 535 miles of new broadband fiber to connect networks to high-capacity national and regional networks, bringing internet access to over 35,000 homes, according to the Senator's office.
More information about the Affordable Connectivity Program can be found online.