Trump explains ‘racist’ and ‘unconstitutional’ high-speed internet program

President Trump fell on Thursday a law signed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Focused on expanding rapid internet access, the effort “racist” and “totally unconstitutional” call and threaten to end the “immediately”.

Mr. Trump’s statement was one of the strongest examples so far from his slash-and-burn approach to dismantle the legacy of his direct predecessor in this term of office. The Digital Equity Act, a little -known attempt to improve the rapid internet access in communities with poor access, was in the $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure account That Mr Biden asked in his presidency in the law.

The law is written to help many different groups, including veterans, the elderly and the disabled and rural communities. But Mr. Trump, with the help of the fire bribe steel that has been a trademark of his political career, criticized the law on Thursday because he also tried to improve internet access for ethnic and racial minorities, furious in a social media post that came down to “handouts based on race”.

In reality, the The law hardly statesOnly stating that racial minorities can be covered under the program, while a non -discrimination clause is that says that individuals could not be excluded from the program “based on actual or observed race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability” – taken out of the language Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Digital Equity Act, prepared by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat van Washington, provides $ 60 million in subsidies to states and areas Help them think of plans To make internet access more equal, as well as $ 2.5 billion in Subsidies to help bring those plans into operation. Part of that financing has already been paid to states with approved plans – including red, national states such as Indiana, Alabama” Arkansas” Iowa And Kansas. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Extra financing was approved Because of the Biden administration in the weeks before Mr. Trump took office, but has Not yet distributed.

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Trump had carried out his threat to terminate the subsidies that were assigned by the congress. The agencies that supervise the Internet Initiative, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Commerce, do not immediately have requests for comments.

The cancellation of subsidies to states would almost certainly be challenged in the courts, where the Trump government has had some success When blocking, at least temporarily, Challenges for the suspension of subsidies with regard to stock and diversity programs. At the end of March, however, the administration Can’t Wipe a Block About the radical freezing of federal funds on states.