Latest news with #highSpeedInternet
The Independent
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump rips program to bring high-speed internet to rural areas as ‘racist' and ‘totally unconstitutional'
President Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday against legislation signed by former President Joe Biden aimed at increasing access to high-speed internet, arguing that it was 'racist' and 'unconstitutional.' 'I have spoken with my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and we agree that the Biden/Harris so-called 'Digital Equity Act' is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday afternoon. It was a statement that made Trump's wish to dismantle the work of his predecessor clear. The legislation was part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill Biden signed early in his term in office. It aims to improve access to high-speed internet in communities with limited access. The legislation was enacted to help a number of groups, such as veterans, older people, the disabled, and rural communities. But Trump took aim at the law for also trying to boost internet access for ethnic and racial minorities. 'No more woke handouts based on race! The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!' he added on Truth Social. However, the legislation barely cites race, The New York Times noted. It only says that the program could cover racial minorities while also including a nondiscrimination clause which states that people cannot be excluded from the program 'on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability.' Such language was borrowed from the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Digital Equity Act delivers $60 million worth of grants to states and territories to aid them in creating plans to make internet access more equal. It also provides for $2.5 billion in grants to enact those plans. Some of those funds have already been approved and sent on to a number of states, including some conservative, rural states, such as Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, and Kansas. Hundreds of millions in further funding were approved during the final weeks of the Biden administration, but have yet to be disbursed, according to The New York Times. Congressional appropriations commandeered the funds, and the initiative is overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Commerce. However, any cancellation of the funding would likely face pushback in the courts. The Trump administration has experienced some success in temporarily blocking challenges to its suspension of grants connected to programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, in late March, a federal appeals court left in place a ruling by a lower court that stopped the Office of Management and Budget from putting in place a freeze on federal funding to states. The court noted that the freeze posed a clear risk to states that depend on the financing.
New York Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Declares High-Speed Internet Program ‘Racist' and ‘Unconstitutional'
President Trump on Thursday attacked a law signed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. aimed at expanding high-speed internet access, calling the effort 'racist' and 'totally unconstitutional' and threatening to end it 'immediately.' Mr. Trump's statement was one of the starkest examples yet of his slash-and-burn approach to dismantling the legacy of his immediate predecessor in this term in office. The Digital Equity Act, a little-known effort to improve high-speed internet access in communities with poor access, was tucked into the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that Mr. Biden signed into law early in his presidency. The act was written to help many different groups, including veterans, older people and disabled and rural communities. But Mr. Trump, using the incendiary language that has been a trademark of his political career, denounced the law on Thursday for also seeking to improve internet access for ethnic and racial minorities, raging in a social media post that it amounted to providing 'woke handouts based on race.' In reality, the law barely mentions race at all, only stating that racial minorities could be covered by the program while including a nondiscrimination clause that says that individuals could not be excluded from the program 'on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability' — language taken from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Digital Equity Act, drafted by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, provides $60 million in grants to states and territories to help them come up with plans to make internet access more equal, as well as $2.5 billion in grants to help put those plans into effect. Some of that funding has already been disbursed to states with approved plans — including red, rural states like Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa and Kansas. Hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding were approved by the Biden administration in the weeks before Mr. Trump took office, but have not yet been distributed. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump had carried out his threat to end the grants, which were appropriated through Congress. The agencies that oversee the internet initiative, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Commerce, did not immediately to requests for comment. The cancellation of grants to states would almost certainly be challenged in the courts, where the Trump administration has had some success in blocking, at least temporarily, challenges to its suspension of grants related to equity and diversity programs. However, in late March, the administration failed to ward off a block on its sweeping freeze of federal funds to states.
