“While you have repeatedly claimed that the ACP is necessary for connecting participating households to the Internet, it appears the vast majority of tax dollars have gone to households that already had broadband prior to the subsidy,” the Republicans’ December 2023 letter to Rosenworcel said.

That may be partly explained by the fact that many ACP recipients were getting a different discount under a predecessor program that ended once the ACP was implemented. The $30 monthly ACP benefit replaced the previous $50 monthly subsidy from the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program that started enrolling users in May 2021.