Michael Ejercito wrote:
> HeartDoc Andrew, in the Holy Spirit, boldly wrote:
>> Michael Ejercito wrote:
>>
>>> https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/1bmxy0t/millions_of_lowincome_families_set_to_lose/
>>>
>>> Millions of Low-Income Families Set to Lose Internet Subsidies
>>> The Affordable Connectivity Program, a $14.2 billion federal effort to
>>> make internet service more affordable, is expected to run out of funding
>>> this spring.
>>> Share full article
>>> A person adjusting a device on top of a long rod on the edge of a flat
>>> roof, with other buildings in the city behind him.
>>> A volunteer installing Wi-Fi at a building in Brooklyn. More than 23
>>> million households receive effectively free or reduced-price internet
>>> service through a federal program that may be about to end.Credit...José
>>> A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times
>>> Madeleine Ngo
>>> By Madeleine Ngo
>>> Reporting from Washington
>>> March 23, 2024, 5:01 a.m. ET
>>> Phyllis Jackson, a retired administrative assistant in Monroeville, Pa.,
>>> signed up for home internet service for the first time in about two
>>> decades early last year. She now regularly uses the internet to pay her
>>> bills online, buy clothes, find new recipes and learn about her medication.
>>> Ms. Jackson said she signed up for internet service after enrolling in a
>>> federal program that provided a monthly discount for low-income
>>> households. That program is set to run out of funding this spring,
>>> however, which will make it harder for Ms. Jackson and millions of other
>>> households to afford to stay connected to the internet.
>>> “I really can’t do without it,” said Ms. Jackson, 79. “The way things
>>> are today, everyone needs to be able to use the computer.”
>>> The $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program provides low-income
>>> households up to $30 off their internet bill each month, and households
>>> living on eligible tribal lands can receive a discount of up to $75 a
>>> month. More than 23 million households receive either reduced bills or
>>> effectively free internet service through the program.
>>> But federal officials began winding down the program early last month,
>>> when they stopped accepting new applications and enrollments. The
>>> program was tucked into the 2021 infrastructure law as a replacement for
>>> a pandemic-era program that provided certain households discounts on
>>> their internet bills. Although there is some bipartisan support to
>>> continue the subsidies, lawmakers have not passed an extension.
>>> Participants will continue receiving full benefits through April,
>>> according to the Federal Communications Commission. In May, internet
>>> companies will have the option to provide them with partial discounts
>>> using the remaining federal funding. Based on provider claims data as of
>>> Feb. 15, the program had about $2.5 billion left, which is meant to
>>> cover the subsidies and other program expenses.
>>> The program is part of the Biden administration’s broader initiative to
>>> connect every American to affordable, high-speed internet, which
>>> officials hope will stimulate economic growth and widen access to health
>>> care and education. The administration is spending an additional $42.5
>>> billion to expand access to broadband to every corner of the country.
>>> The administration is funneling billions of dollars into the expansion
>>> of internet access largely because officials see it as a critical way to
>>> strengthen the economy. Across U.S. metros, prime-age workers who have
>>> access to high-speed internet on home computers participate in the labor
>>> force at a much higher rate than those without access, according to
>>> research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Other research
>>> has found that internet connectivity can bolster economic growth in
>>> rural areas, helping to create jobs and attract workers.
>>> Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers have coalesced around a bill
>>> that would provide $7 billion to fund the program for about another
>>> year. Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, a Democrat who has sponsored the
>>> bill, said that he was encouraged by the bipartisan support, but that it
>>> was “tough to be optimistic.”
>>> “It’s hard to get anything done in this Congress,” Mr. Welch said.
>>> “Anything on the budget becomes very contentious.”
>>> In October, Biden administration officials sent Congress a supplemental
>>> request for $6 billion to extend funding for the program, which they
>>> have urged Republicans to support. “It’s past time for them to step up
>>> for the American people so that we can continue our work to close the
>>> digital divide across America,” Robyn Patterson, a White House
>>> spokeswoman, said in a statement.
>>> F.C.C. officials have said more funding is “urgently needed” to help
>>> millions of households stay connected to high-speed internet. According
>>> to a survey the F.C.C. conducted of program recipients in December, 48
>>> percent of respondents said they would switch to a lower-cost plan that
>>> could be slower than their current one, and 29 percent said they would
>>> drop service after losing the benefit.
>>> Paloma Perez, a spokeswoman for the F.C.C., said that the end of the
>>> program would be a “step backward” and that officials were working with
>>> lawmakers to “think about what the future of this program looks like.”
>>> Image
>>> A lineman in the bucket of a bucket truck stringing fiber optic line on
>>> a tall pole as other linemen walk on the ground. They are surrounded by
>>> grass and trees along a dirt lane.
>>> The Biden administration is funneling billions of dollars into the
>>> expansion of internet access, in large part because officials see it as
>>> a critical way to strengthen the economy.Credit...Mike Belleme for The
>>> New York Times
>>> But some Republicans have argued that the program is wasteful. In a
>>> December letter to the F.C.C., Senator John Thune of South Dakota and
>>> other Republican lawmakers raised concerns about the program subsidizing
>>> households that already had internet service. They have also pointed to
>>> findings from the F.C.C.’s Office of Inspector General, which has in
>>> recent months expressed concerns about some providers failing to comply
>>> with program rules and improperly claiming funds.
>>> “Some people are receiving this benefit that don’t really need it,”
>>> Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said during a recent local
>>> news interview. “So I think we need to have accountability and make sure
>>> that the people that are receiving this benefit are the ones that
>>> actually cannot pay.”
>>> According to the F.C.C. survey, 22 percent of respondents said they did
>>> not have any internet service and 25 percent only had mobile internet
>>> service before enrolling in the program. Thirty percent of respondents
>>> said they had both mobile and home internet service.
>>> Blair Levin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
>>> and an F.C.C. official during the Obama administration, said that
>>> changes to the program would be problematic, but that lawmakers should
>>> reach a compromise before millions of Americans are left at risk of
>>> losing internet access.
>>> Ms. Jackson, who enrolled in the program with assistance from a
>>> Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, said she was not sure if she could afford
>>> internet service after the program ends. She said she would most likely
>>> have to purchase fewer groceries and reduce her electricity use to cut
>>> expenses, but her monthly rent is also set to increase by $50 next month.
>>> The end of the subsidy program could also complicate the Biden
>>> administration’s other $42.5 billion program to provide every American
>>> access to broadband, said Drew Garner, the director of policy engagement
>>> at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. The funds, which will
>>> be distributed as grants to internet providers, are meant to cover much
>>> of the cost of building broadband infrastructure.
>>> Without the subsidy program, however, more low-income households will
>>> struggle to afford broadband service. With fewer potential customers in
>>> low-income areas, internet providers will have less incentive to expand
>>> service in those neighborhoods and may ask for bigger federal grants,
>>> Mr. Garner said.
>>> “It’s a big task to reach every unconnected household in the country,”
>>> Mr. Garner said. “That’s going to be way harder without the A.C.P.
>>> attracting infrastructure to those very hard-to-reach areas.”
>>> Mr. Garner said the subsidy program has also helped provide households
>>> more stable internet access. In the year before enrolling in the
>>> program, many participants reported only having internet service during
>>> the months they could afford it. Although some households could drop
>>> service entirely, others might opt into slower internet plans, which
>>> could impede their ability to complete many tasks online, Mr. Garner said.
>>> Vincent Coleman, a 26-year-old medical student in Huntington, W.Va.,
>>> said he would probably have to downgrade his internet plan. Although the
>>> new plan would cost about $40 a month — roughly the same amount he pays
>>> now with the discount — he worries his internet connection would be too
>>> slow to watch lectures or view patient records at home.
>>> Mr. Coleman said the benefit has helped provide relief for him and his wife.
>>> “It’s a great help,” Mr. Coleman said. “Finances are always a major
>>> source of stress, and I budget very carefully.”
>>
>> In the interim, we are 100% prepared/protected in the "full armor of
>> GOD" (Ephesians 6:11) which we put on as soon as we use Apostle Paul's
>> secret (Philippians 4:12). Though masking is less protective, it helps
>> us avoid the appearance of doing the evil of spreading airborne
>> pathogens while there are people getting sick because of not being
>> 100% protected. It is written that we're to "abstain from **all**
>> appearance of doing evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22 w/**emphasis**).
>>
>> Meanwhile, the only *perfect* (Matt 5:47-8 ) way to eradicate the
>> COVID-19 virus, thereby saving lives, in the US & elsewhere is by
>> rapidly (i.e. use the "Rapid COVID-19 Test" ) finding out at any given
>> moment, including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly
>> contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
>> "convince it forward" (John 15:12) for them to call their doctor and
>> self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic.
>> Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the worse-case
>> scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the Omicron,
>> Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage mutations
>> combining via slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids like "Deltamicron"
>> that may render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no
>> longer effective.
>>
>> Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry (
>> https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/6ZoE95d-VKc/m/14vVZoyOBgAJ
>> ) and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
>>
>> So how are you ?
>
> I am wonderfully hungry!

While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, are rapture ready (Luke
17:37 means no COVID just as eagles circling over their food have no
COVID) and pray (2 Chronicles 7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6)
Father in Heaven continues to give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy
Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so that we'd have much more of His Help to
always say/write that we're "wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways
including especially caring to "convince it forward" (John 15:12) with
all glory (Psalm112:1) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.

Laus DEO !

Source:
https://narkive.com/LXC3Bhhh.5

Positive control on USENET:
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/7ixdk7t6Bk8/m/xpbS2z7QAAAJ

Suggested further reading:
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/5EWtT4CwCOg/m/QjNF57xRBAAJ

Shorter link:
http://bit.ly/StatCOVID-19Test

Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:

http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrew touts hunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory
( http://bit.ly/Psalm112_1 ) to GOD, Who causes us to hunger
(Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby
removing the http://WDJW.great-site.net/VAT from around the heart

....because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,

HeartDoc Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Cardiologist with an http://bit.ly/EternalMedicalLicense
2024 & upwards non-partisan candidate for U.S. President:
http://WonderfullyHungry.org
and author of the 2PD-OMER Approach:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewCare
which is the only **healthy** cure for the U.S. healthcare crisis