With six months of funding remaining (at most) and the Congressional budget process in disarray, the future of the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program  after next May has been looking bleak.  But small glimmers of light may suddenly be appearing.

Thursday afternoon, 32 U.S. Senators led by Jackie Rosen (D-NV) and including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown released a letter to the Senate and House leadership.  The signers — all Democrats or Independents who caucus with the Dems — discuss the importance of the ACP for two pages and conclude: “We urge you to extend funding for the ACP in a government appropriations package and include a long-term solution that ensures efficient spending of taxpayer dollars.” This is framed as a “request”. But considering that request comes from three-fifths of the majority Democratic Caucus — including 13 of the 19 Caucus members who are facing re-election next year, and the chair of the subcommittee which has jurisdiction over ACP, Senator Lujan of New Mexico — it has to be taken pretty seriously.

Also on Thursday afternoon, Politico reported:

The Biden administration is expected to send Congress a funding request for domestic priorities next week, according to three people familiar with the request, in addition to its anticipated national security emergency spending request.

… The domestic policy request is slated to include funding for child care, broadband and disaster relief…

ACP is the Administration’s only “broadband” program facing a near-term funding crisis. So it’s not unreasonable to hope that the new request includes funding to take ACP through 2024. (Update 10/20: Hope confirmed.)

Does all this mean the future of the Affordable Connectivity Program is suddenly secure? No.

But it does suggest that ACP renewal isn’t a lost cause.

With that in mind, these are still the basic facts facing Ohioans who want — or need — Federal support for Affordable Connectivity to continue:

1. At the beginning of this week, Ohio had 1,091,094 households enrolled in the ACP. (Source) That’s about 22% of all households in the state — the third highest percentage of households among all the states, behind only Louisiana and Kentucky.

2. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told a Senate subcommittee hearing on September 19: “Our current projections indicate that the appropriated funds provided through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to keep these households connected will run out as early as April of next year.”

3. As of today, there’s still no White House request, or proposed legislation in either the Senate or House, to add ACP funding to the FY 2024 Federal budget. FCC Chair Rosenworcel told a trade group meeting two weeks ago that the ACP will need $7 billion to continue operating through the end of 2024. That’s the closest thing we have to an actual proposal.

4. When (and if) a legislative proposal to renew ACP funding does emerge, it’s likely to come from members of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcomittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband — the ACP’s  “committee of jurisdiction”, chaired by Senator Lujan.  And its sponsors  will need to be at least a little bipartisan. Ohio Senator JD Vance (who has expressed support for ACP renewal in the past) is a member of that subcommittee.

5. Senator Sherrod Brown, who signed the letter released Thursday, is not on the Commerce Committee. But any Senator can be influential on any issue — especially a senior member of the majority party who’s facing a tough re-election.

6. So here’s the bottom line: Calls, e-mails or letters encouraging both Senators Brown and Vance to fight for renewed ACP funding, right now, are very important. If you haven’t personally reached out to them yet, please do it ASAP.