Advocates pledge action to restore digital equity grants
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By
Chris Teale
One year after President Donald Trump rescinded the funds, various groups and lawmakers have kicked off a month of action to push for their restoration.
Just over one year ago, President Donald Trump announced via social media he was ending digital equity grants, which he called a “racist and illegal $2.5 billion giveaway.”
Twelve months on, a coalition of lawmakers, nonprofits and other advocates are pledging to fight back, restore funding and prevent similar rescissions in the future, even though the odds are stacked against them. And they promised to continue their fight in the courts.
Following Trump’s May 2025 declaration that he would be ending digital equity grants, states quickly received letters informing them their grants had been terminated, while the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administered the program, quickly scrubbed references to the program from its website.
That decision prompted a furious reaction from advocates, who filed a lawsuit in October looking to reinstate those grants. And at a virtual press conference held last week to mark one year since Trump’s rescindment, those advocates promised to do even more, as the digital skills the law was designed to build are just as important as the network infrastructure that the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program promises to build.
“We cannot declare victory by counting miles of fiber made or dollars spent,” Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Anna Gomez said. “True progress means asking whether people are actually online, whether they have the skills to navigate the digital economy, whether they can access telehealth, apply for jobs, help their kids with homework and participate fully in modern life. If we only measure deployment, we will build a lot of digital bridges to nowhere and leave a lot of people behind.”
The press conference marked the official start of what organizers — including the National Digital Inclusion Alliance — billed as a “DEA Month of Action.” Groups pledged to raise awareness about harms caused by the grants’ cancellation, ensure Congress ignores Trump’s FY 2027 budget request to eliminate funding altogether, and remind policymakers of the importance of such programs.
Trump’s May 2025 rescission killed three programs under the Digital Equity Act: the $60 million Digital Equity Planning Grant Program; the $1.44 billion Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program; and the $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. The nonprofit Benton Institute for Broadband and Society noted that states’ digital equity plans had already been approved by NTIA, while the agency had also approved states’ implementation strategies, which meant they could receive capacity program grants. NTIA had already recommended 66 applicants for awards and was set for more funding rounds, Benton added.
“This was simply a unilateral action, which is why we're asking the appropriators and the members of Congress to forcefully reject any effort to rescind the prior funding, and also we want them to fight to restore the funding that has already been canceled,” said Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “Digital equity matters because every pathway to opportunity now runs through technology.”
The groups, however, received something of a setback in court as part of their ongoing lawsuit against the rescissions. NDIA had filed a motion to put its lawsuit on pause, pending the decision in another case over whether the Trump administration illegally froze grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, a decision from District of Columbia District Judge John D. Bates rejected that motion and said the lawsuit must proceed. In his decision, Bates said the plaintiffs had “failed to show that the jurisdictional issues presented in this case necessarily overlap with those in Climate United, the Government offers independent grounds for dismissal, and the cost of potentially submitting supplemental briefing is minor.”
Lawmakers promised to keep fighting against what they deemed the “unlawful” termination of digital equity grants, including during the ongoing appropriations process.
“Let's remember Congress holds the power of the purse,” said Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat. “The Appropriations Committee will continue to assert that authority to ensure that funds already allocated by law are used as intended to serve the American people. We cannot afford to go backward. We must continue moving forward together to close the digital divide once and for all.”
The fight continues, advocates said.
“Let me say this plainly: the executive branch cannot repeal a law via social media posts,” said Chris Lewis, president and CEO at Public Knowledge. “Beyond that being a blatantly unconstitutional act, stalling or halting the Digital Equity Act is bad for consumers and it is bad for business.”