NDIA's Angela Siefer on the fight to restore the Digital Equity Act

Angela Siefer discusses the impact the cancellation of Digital Equity Act funds has had on digital equity and inclusion organizations and initiatives over the last year, and the ongoing efforts underway to get that funding restored. Those efforts include the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's decision to sue the Trump administration over the canceled program. That lawsuit—which is seeking "a declaratory judgment that the Digital Equity Act's Competitive Grant Program is a constitutional and lawful act of Congress, and therefore, that the Executive Branch's elimination of that congressionally authorized Program is unconstitutional and unlawful"—is still underway. The federal government filed a motion to dismiss NDIA's case earlier this year, claiming the DEA was unconstitutional. Oral arguments on that matter were first held June 11, and the judge asked both sides to submit a ten-page brief within ten days. In addition to taking its fight to the courts, NDIA also recently spearheaded a DEA "month of action"—held from May 8 to June 8—to help generate advocacy and action around the effort to restore funding and find other, long-lasting solutions. The goal was also to advocate against the president's budget request for Congress to eliminate the Digital Equity Act funds from the FY2027 budget.