D.C. Memo: Senate Panel Passes $7 Billion in New ACP Funding

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ACP: The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday voted to provide the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) with $7 billion in new money, but ranking member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) indicated that he would fight the plan on the Senate floor because it lacked key features. "This bill has no [ACP] reform in it at all. It's not paid for or offset in anyway," Cruz said. The ACP ran out of funding on May 31. The ACP amendment, sponsored by Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), was coupled with another amendment by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) to provide $3 billion in new funding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, also known as the Rip and Replace program to remove gear of Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei from U.S. communications networks. Schmitt said FCC spectrum auction proceeds would cover the cost of this Rip and Replace language. Welch, after initially saying the $7 billion for ACP had no "offset" or payment source, he later said the ACP would also receive funding from FCC spectrum auctions. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) earlier in the year supported a bill that would allow the FCC to pay for the ACP by borrowing money from the U.S. Treasury, a proposal that economist Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a former Republican FCC Commissioner, called "a bad idea that would set a dangerous precedent." The ACP and Rip and Replace money passed, 14-12. Sen. JD Vance (R-Oh.), the Republican Vice Presidential nominee and strong ACP proponent, was not present for the vote and it did not appear that his vote was recorded, up or down. The committee has 13 Republicans. Angela Siefer, Executive Director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, issued a statement urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "to bring this [ACP] bill to the floor for a vote."