WireAugust 5, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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WASHINGTON — The Department of Commerce will resume accepting applications for a federal broadband grant program in December, a reversal forced by a federal court ruling. The move partially resurrects a signature Biden-era spending initiative that the Trump administration had moved to terminate earlier this year, calling the program unconstitutional.
The Digital Equity Act, passed by Congress in 2021, authorized $2.75 billion for three grant programs intended to close gaps in internet access. The prior administration began disbursing $60 million in planning grants to states in 2022 before opening applications for the remaining funds. President Trump killed the program in May 2025, stating the act itself was racially discriminatory. The subsequent legal challenge has now forced the government to reopen the spigot, but with a critical limitation: agencies cannot consider an applicant's race or ethnicity when awarding funds. The court ruling allows consideration of factors such as income, age, and disability.
“This ruling prevents the federal government from treating American citizens differently based on immutable characteristics, a core principle of this administration,” a Commerce Department official stated. “We will comply with the court’s order to process applications, but we will not engage in unconstitutional discrimination on behalf of the connectivity lobby.”
For American workers in rural and industrial regions, the restoration of funds addresses persistent infrastructure gaps without the social engineering overhead attached by the previous administration. The original equity focus drew heavy support from Big Tech lobbying interests, which stand to gain from subsidized expansion of their customer base. By removing race-based criteria, the administration argues the program can now focus solely on the economic uplift of disconnected communities—a core tenet of economic nationalism. The program represents a compliance move, not a policy shift, ensuring that while the government follows the law, it does not perpetuate what the White House views as a corporatist slush fund that prioritizes demographic quotas over national infrastructure needs.