Trump described the Digital Justice Act as "racist." Now, the money allocated for rural residents to get Internet has disappeared

Sarah Jane Tribble, KFF Health News

Megan Waiters can tell the stories of dozens of people she’s helped get online in West Alabama. A 7-year-old boy couldn’t do his homework online without a tablet, and a 91-year-old taught him how to consult health portals on a cell phone.

Orange column and “Attention!” A roadside marker marks the spot where the fiber optic cable is buried.

“They have health care needs, but they lack the necessary digital skills,” said Waiters, who works as a digital navigator for a nonprofit in Alabama. His work has included giving away computers and tablets, while also teaching classes on how to use the Internet for work and personal needs, such as banking and health. “It’s like a strange space.”

Those stories now have a bittersweet taste.

Wickers is part of a network of digital navigators across the country whose work to bring others into the digital world is funded, in part, by a $2.75 billion federal program that abruptly ended its funding this spring.

The comment came after President Donald Trump posted on his platform Social truth And that the Digital Justice Act is unconstitutional and promised to “stop race-based aid to the public conscience!”

Exact details of the law Who should benefit? Money, including low-income families, older adults, some people in prison, rural Americans, veterans, and members of racial or ethnic minorities.

Politicians, researchers, librarians and advocates said defunding the program, along with other changes to federal broadband initiatives, jeopardizes efforts to help rural and underserved residents participate in the modern economy and live healthier lives.

“You can see lives changing,” said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association, recalling how they helped grandparents in Iowa get prescriptions online or laid-off factory workers fill out job applications.

The Digital Justice Act is part of the sweeping infrastructure bill of 2021, which included $65 billion to build high-speed internet infrastructure and connect millions of people without internet access.

This year, Congress once again called for a modern approach to helping Americans, demanding state leaders prioritize new and emerging technologies through the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program.

and Analysis by KFF Health News It revealed that nearly 3 million people across the country live in areas with a shortage of medical professionals and where modern telehealth services are often not accessible due to poor internet connections.

The analysis revealed that in about 200 mostly rural counties where coverage gaps persist, there are residents They live at a greater risk of contracting the disease and dying earlieron average, than people in the rest of the country. Access to high-speed Internet is among a number of social factors, such as nutrition and safe housing, that help people live healthier lives.

“The Internet provides this extra layer of flexibility,” said Kristina Filipovic, who leads research for an initiative at the Institute for Business in the Global Context at Tufts University. In 2022The research group found in 2022 that access to high-speed internet was associated with a lower death rate from Covid-19, especially in urban areas.

During the COVID pandemic, federal lawmakers launched a support program funded by the Infrastructure Act. This aid, called the Affordable Connectivity Program, sought to connect more people to their jobs, schools and doctors. In 2024, Congress did not renew nearly all funding for the support program 23 million low-income families.

This year, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick renewed and delayed an infrastructure bill creation initiative — known as the Broadband Rights, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program — after announcing plans to build broadband. Reducing regulatory burdens. More than 40 states and territories have submitted final proposals to expand high-speed internet to underserved areas under the administration’s new guidelines, according to a panel of government officials. Department of Commerce.

In May, funding for the Digital Justice Act was defunded just days after Trump’s Social Truth post. While many states received funding to plan their programs in 2022, the next round of funding, allocated to states and agencies to implement the plans, has largely been awarded but not distributed.

Instead, federal regulators, including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTI), the federal agency that oversees implementation of the Digital Justice Act, And inform the beneficiaries Subsidies will be cancelled.

It was created and operated with “unconstitutional racial preferences,” according to the letter.

In Phoenix, Arizona, officials learned in January that the city would receive $11.8 million to increase internet access and digital literacy instruction, but they received an email on May 20 that all grants had been cancelled, “except those for local entities.”

“It’s a shame,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat. He said the money would have helped 37,000 residents access the Internet.

In July, Georgia Democratic leaders They sent a message to Lutnick and then-acting NTIA Administrator Adam Cassady, demanding the money back, stating that the federal cut ignores congressional intent and violates the public trust.

The law’s creator, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), said during press conference Online in May 2024, Republican governors supported the law and its funding as each state touted the completion of required digital equity plans and required resources.

“I can’t believe there are no Republican governors joining us to fight this,” Murray declared, adding, “The other way is through the courts.”

All 50 states have developed digital equity plans after months of focus groups, surveys and public consultation periods. The “deliberate community engagement” of federal and state leaders to provide broadband to underserved communities was “the greatest demonstration of participatory democracy our country has ever seen,” Angela Thee Bennett, director of digital equity at NTIA, said during an August 2024 interview with KFF Health News.

The Bennett could not be reached for comment on this article. NTIA spokesman Steven Yusko said the agency “would not be able to honor” an interview request with Thee Bennett and did not respond to questions for this article.

Carolyn Stratton, research director at the Benton Broadband and Society Institute, said the law’s funding allows states to staff their offices; Identify current high-speed Internet programs, including those operating in other state agencies; And develop plans to address deficiencies.

“This prompted people to investigate to see if state agencies were already working on health improvement plans and to ask whether broadband work could contribute and ‘effectively help improve the situation,'” Stratton explained.

Government grant applications included goals for Promoting access to health care. in mississippi, The plan is made up Stratton explained in an initiative to improve the health of the state university and another agency.

While states were required to create programs that assisted specific populations covered, some modified the language or added subcategories to include other populations. he Colorado Plan It included immigrants and homeless people.

“In every state, there is a loss,” said Angela Seaver, executive director of the National Alliance for Digital Inclusion. The non-profit organization that received Nearly $26 million To cooperate with organizations across the country, but did not receive funds, she filed a lawsuit on October 7 to force Trump and the government to distribute the funds.

“The digital divide is not over yet,” Siver declared.

The organization’s grant is planned to support digital navigators in 11 states and territories, including waiters. The employer, the nonprofit Community Service Program of West Alabama, had hoped to receive a $1.4 million grant.

For the past two years, waiters have spent hours traveling rural roads in Alabama to reach residents. It distributed 648 devices (laptops, tablets, and SIM cards) and helped hundreds of clients with 117 two-hour digital skills classes at libraries, senior centers, and workforce development programs in and around Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

People of “all races, ages and economic levels” who do not “belong to our model minority category” received help through their work, Waiters said. He said Trump and his administration should know “what it really looks like for the people I serve.”

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