Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday to meet with individuals who have benefitted from the Affordable Connectivity Program, an effort that aims to increase the number of Americans with home access to high-speed broadband connections. 


What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday to meet with individuals who have benefitted from the Affordable Connectivity Program

  • The effort, which aims to increase the number of Americans with home access to high-speed broadband connections, was funded thanks to last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

  • The broadband program makes it easier for Americans to get access to internet services by offering up to a $30 monthly discount – or $75 for those who live on Tribal lands – on internet bills

  • Harris also convened a roundtable discussion about reproductive rights with state lawmakers and abortion providers, her fourth such meeting nationwide in a week

The program was funded thanks to last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated $65 billion to expand broadband nationwide. 

“I will begin with a simple and obvious truth: In the 21st century, high-speed internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” Harris said from the Carole Hoefener Center. “It's as basic as, what we have come to accept over generations, how electricity is a necessity.” 

The broadband program makes it easier for Americans to get access to internet services by offering up to a $30 monthly discount – or $75 for those who live on Tribal lands – on internet bills. Those eligible can also receive a $100 discount towards the purchase of a laptop, desktop computer or tablet, so long as the family can contribute between $10 and $50 towards the overall price. 

But not everyone can get those discounts, as recipients must qualify either through a government assistance program, via their household income or their internet service provider’s low-income plan. 

The effort is a modification of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, a temporary pandemic-era initiative created last year. Those who were enrolled under the previous program were automatically enrolled into the Affordable Connectivity Program, should they meet the requirements. 

Those requirements were updated slightly under the new program: Households with income up to 200% more than the federal poverty limit can apply, up from a 135% benchmark last year; the monthly benefit for non-Tribal households also decreased from $50 to $30 and a prohibition on upselling is included. Americans can visit getinternet.gov to check their eligibility status. 

The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday said around 1 million new households have signed up since the effort re-launched. In total, about 13 million households have signed up for the program.

“Students use the internet for so many reasons that are in pursuit of their education, including to attend virtual classes,” Harris noted during Thursday’s address. “Workers use the internet to find jobs and receive training. Seniors use the internet to see a doctor without leaving their home. For so many of us, the internet is an essential part of our daily lives.” 

Approximately 93% of Americans use the internet, according to a 2021 study from Pew Research. Still, there are many barriers to home broadband access, and individuals in minority groups or from low socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to have access to the internet at their home. Rural areas are also more likely to lack access to adequate internet services. 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced $23.4 million in grants for broadband access, split between 12 counties, that he said will “help thousands more North Carolina families and businesses across the state access high-speed internet and the opportunities it brings.” All internet service providers who received the grants must participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program in order to receive the funds. 

"Reliable and affordable high-speed internet is a necessity for all North Carolinians to work, learn, connect and access online health care,” Cooper wrote in a statement, noting that nearly 1.1 million North Carolina households lack access to broadband services. 

After the event, Harris convened a roundtable discussion about reproductive rights with state lawmakers and abortion providers, her fourth such meeting nationwide in a week.

"There are certain principles that are at stake on this issue and in this discussion, and one of them is that everyone in America should be free to make decisions about her own body without government interference," she told the gathered group, which included the executive director of a local women's health center and the head of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

Harris called on the assembled lawmakers to support Gov. Cooper, a Democrat, whose veto power can block abortion restrictions passed by the Republican-led state legislature, and urged that supporting abortion rights "does not require you to abandon your faith or your beliefs," but rather backs a woman's right to make that choice without government interference.

"That really is as much as anything what's at stake here.," she said, adding: "It's about one of the most important principles upon which our nation was founded: freedom, liberty, freedom from government interference in the most intimate decisions that are essentially about hearth and home."

"When we look at our highest court taking a constitutional right from the people of our country, we must understand what this also means in terms of what we stand for as a democracy, which has stated certain principles about the rights of individuals to be free from interference by their government," Harris said. "All this is at stake."