United States President Donald Trump says he intends to end the country’s Digital Equity Act, a federal grant program aimed at helping bridge the digital divide among Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The act funds assistance programs like one in rural Iowa that distributes laptops, another that helped people in western North Carolina get back online after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones, and a third in rural Alabama that helps teach older people \u2014 including some who have never touched a computer \u2014 how to navigate an increasingly digital world.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump, on Truth Social, labelled the act “racist and illegal” and said it amounted to “woke handouts based on race”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump wants to cut funding to the Digital Equity Act, after labelling it as “racist and illegal”. (Reuters: Nathan Howard)<\/p>\n
The president called the program a “$2.5 billion giveaway”. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The program was actually funded with $US2.75 billion ($4.26b).<\/p>\n
It was first approved by the US Congress in 2021 as part of a $65 billion investment meant to bring internet access to every home and business in the country.<\/p>\n
The broadband program itself was a key component of the $US1 trillion infrastructure law pushed through by the administration of former Democratic president Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
The Digital Equity Act was intended to fill gaps and cover unmet needs that surfaced during the massive broadband rollout.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Digital Equity Act also helps teach older people \u2014 including some who have never touched a computer \u2014 how to navigate an increasingly digital world. (AP: Jenny Kane)<\/p>\n
It also gave states and tribes flexibility to deliver high-speed internet access to families that could not afford it, computers to kids who did not have them, telehealth access to older adults in rural areas, and training and job skills to veterans.<\/p>\n
Whether Mr Trump has the legal authority to end the program remains unknown, but for now the Republican administration can simply stop spending the money.<\/p>\n
“I just felt my heart break for what we were finally, finally in this country, going to address, the digital divide,” said Angela Siefer, the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the classes covered by programs funded under the Digital Equity Act help older Americans learn how to effectively use computer keyboards. (AP: Jenny Kane)<\/p>\n
That alliance is a non-profit that was awarded \u2014 but has not received \u2014 a $US25.7 million grant to work with groups across the country to help provide access to technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The digital divide is not just physical access to the internet, it is being able to use that to do what you need to do,” Ms Siefer said.<\/p>\n
Digital act falls victim to Trump’s war on diversity and equity<\/p>\n
While the name of the program likely got it targeted amid the Trump administration’s aggressive scrubbing of government programs that promote diversity, equity or inclusion, the Digital Equity Act was supposed to be broader in scope.<\/p>\n