On Wednesday, the 5th Circuit Court ruled that the Universal Service Fund (USF) is unconstitutional, eliminating funding for four major connectivity programs for low-income households, hard-to-serve places, schools and libraries, and rural hospitals. USF, which is supported by an assessment on phone lines, funds broadband connections for over 30,000 schools and reduces phone costs for over 10 million households.

“This ruling plus the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program is a one-two punch to working families,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “The good news is, the fix should be easy. All Congress needs to do is to fix the funding mechanism, and we can get schools and working families back online. In the wealthiest country in the world, we shouldn’t force kids to access the internet from a McDonald’s parking lot.”

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