(PatriotPostNews.com) – In a recent editorial from the Lone Star State’s largest newspaper, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was criticized for preventing Texans from receiving affordable internet services.
On Sunday April 14, The Houston Chronicle published an editorial that scrutinized the widely popular conservative lawmaker for “standing in the way” of a federal program that needs additional funding in order to provide low-cost internet for American households struggling to make ends meet.
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a portion of a bill passed in 2021 that allows low-income families to purchase internet services for up to a $30 discount per month. For households on tribal lands, the discount can be as much as $75 a month. The $14.2 billion program, which has been endorsed by President Joe Biden, was approved under bipartisan legislation.
However, because of a lack of funding from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced in February its plans to “wind down” the program, including ceasing to accept new applications for qualification. The remaining funding is expected to run out in the coming weeks, unless lawmakers decide to provide more money.
But legislators have proposed a bill that would expand the ACP until the end of 2024, adding $7 billion to the program’s budget. This measure is currently stalled in the Appropriations Committee of the Senate.
Cruz is one of the lawmakers preventing the additional funding from being approved, according to the editorial board at The Houston Chronicle, which argued that Texas residents are “desperately” in need of the low-cost internet provided by the ACP. The senator’s office told Newsweek in an email that the state’s major newspaper “regularly attacks” Cruz, citing that a “positive editorial” from the outlet would be “noteworthy” but a negative one is not.
Previously, Cruz joined three other GOP senators in writing a letter to FCC leadership asking for more data on the ACP and citing the White House’s “reckless spending spree” as a reason for cutting back on certain government programs.
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