Gov Cooper Urges Congress to Pass the Infrastructure Bill

More than 180,000 North Carolina households are getting critical assistance in affording high-speed internet service thanks to the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program. With 182,473 households enrolled in the Federal Communications Commission’s initiative, North Carolina’s level of enrollment ranks sixth among the 50 states. Gov Roy Cooper (D-NC) urges Congress and the North Carolina delegation to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to make the monthly discount permanent for eligible households. The act would include a monthly discount of $30 for eligible households and give $14.2 billion to the program, renamed the Affordable Connectivity program. Additionally, Gov Cooper's Closing the Digital Divide plan would continue the $50 monthly discount for four years with $420 million from the state’s allocation of American Rescue Plan fiscal recovery funds in an effort to hit a target of 80 percent of North Carolinians subscribing to high-speed internet service.