Sarah Jane Tribble

A federal judge in July gave digital equity advocates a partial victory against President Donald Trump, stopping his attempt to unilaterally kill a multibillion-dollar grant program Congress created. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, in a 35-page opinion, also agreed with the administration that it was unconstitutional for the government to use race or ethnicity as the basis to award money under a program created to expand internet skills and access.

Standing atop Ferry Butte, Frances Goli scanned the more than half a million acres of Shoshone-Bannock tribal land below as she dug her hands into the pockets of a pink pullover. “Our goal is to bring fiber out here,” Goli said, sweeping one hand across the horizon. The landscape below is scattered with homes, bordered in the east by snowcapped mountain peaks and to the west by “The Bottoms,” where tribal bison graze along the Snake River. In between, on any given day, a cancer patient drives to the reservation’s casino to call doctors.

The work of digital navigators across the country was to be propped up by a $2.75 billion federal program that was abruptly canceled this spring.

Years of Republican and Democratic administrations have tried to fix the nation’s broadband woes, through flawed attempts.

The Greene County (AL) Health System, with only three doctors, has no intensive care unit or surgical services.

Patients across the rural South, Appalachia, and remote West are most often unable to make a video call to their doctor or log into their patient portals. Both are essential ways to participate in the U.S. medical system. In 2025, more than $42 billion allocated in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is expected to begin flowing to states as part of a national “Internet for All” initiative launched by the Biden administration.

Myrna Broncho realized just how necessary an internet connection can be after she broke her leg. Broncho needed nine surgeries and rehabilitation that took months.

The importance of high-speed internet was seared into the American psyche by scenes of children sitting in parking lots and outside fast-food restaurants to attend school online during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that same period, health care providers and patients like Cindy Westman say being connected also became a vital part of today’s health care delivery system. Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) participant Westman said her internet connection has become so important to her access to health care she would sell “anything that I own” to stay connected.