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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in front of the West Wing of the White House, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP) President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in front of the West Wing of the White House, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in front of the West Wing of the White House, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

Amy Sherman
By Amy Sherman May 13, 2025

Trump called a high-speed internet program a handout ‘based on race’ and ‘illegal.’ That’s False.

If Your Time is short

  • Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced the 2019 Digital Equity Act. It was folded into the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law.

  • The Digital Equity Act included $2.75 billion to expand broadband access in all states. 

  • The law intends to benefit a long list of groups, including low-income households; people 60 and older; people incarcerated in non-federal facilities; veterans; people with disabilities; people with language barriers; racial and ethnic minorities; and people in rural areas.

President Donald Trump called a Biden-era law to expand high-speed internet access "racist" and "illegal." 

In a May 8 Truth Social post, Trump said he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick "agree that the Biden/Harris so-called ‘Digital Equity Act’ is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL. No more woke handouts based on race! The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!"

The law Trump called "woke" and "racist" is used by every state to expand high-speed internet access to millions of Americans, not racial minorities alone. Trump does not have the power to declare the law unconstitutional, and he mischaracterized who the program benefits.

We asked the White House and federal departments involved in the program for evidence to support Trump’s statement and received no reply.

Although Trump referred to the law as "illegal," organizations familiar with it said they are unaware of any court challenges to it.

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The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to bring affordable broadband to everyone, wrote that Trump cannot declare the law unconstitutional: "That is the sole purview of the courts. The Administration’s responsibility is to implement the law as written." 

Under the law, every state received money to write digital equity plans describing in detail how they planned to expand broadband access. The Trump administration sent letters May 9 to states and organizations terminating grants. Trump’s direction to cancel a program approved by Congress will likely face a court challenge. 

The act says high-speed internet expansion should benefit several groups in addition to racial minorities, including veterans, older Americans and rural residents.

"The truth is, equity is not just for communities of color," Zaki Barzinji, senior director at Aspen Digital, which is part of the Aspen Institute, told GovTech.com. "It's not just for urban city communities. It's also for rural communities. It's for mostly white communities." 

Although nearly 90% of U.S. households have high-speed internet, some groups have less access than others. The Pew Research Center found in 2024 that Black and Hispanic household broadband rates trailed those of white households by about 10 percentage points. About 70% of adults aged 65 and older had a broadband connection, which is a lower rate than for younger people. Rural residents and lower income people also lag behind in access.

Digital Equity Act includes a wide variety of beneficiaries

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., introduced the 2019 Digital Equity Act to provide money to expand high-speed internet access. The legislation briefly mentioned race, stating the program would cover populations including "individuals who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group." It also said the program would not exclude participation on the basis of race.

Congress folded the legislation into the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (known as the bipartisan infrastructure law) signed by President Joe Biden. It included $2.75 billion for the Digital Equity Act. Republican including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, support the Digital Equity Act.

"Access to high-speed Internet is critical to the vitality of rural communities, which is why I have long championed expanding access to broadband across Maine," Collins said Jan. 23.

The legislation says a "broadband connection and digital literacy are increasingly critical to how individuals participate in the society, economy, and civic institutions" including to obtain education, build careers and access health care.

The Digital Equity Act does not cover only racial minorities. It includes low-income households; people 60 and older; incarcerated people not in federal facilities; veterans; people with disabilities; people with language barriers; racial and ethnic minorities; and people who live in rural areas. Some people fall into more than one group.

"Only one of those categories is related to race and, when you actually look at the majority of communities in this country that fall into the digital divide, there is a far greater amount of families that fall into the rural community and aging individual buckets," Barzinji told PolitiFact.

Alabama’s digital equity plan said rural areas face the most urgent needs; Iowa wrote that 80% of its residents belong to one of the covered populations; and Arkansas wrote that veterans need help learning how to navigate telemedicine platforms.

During the Biden administration’s final months, states received recommendations from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on how to get funding through the act. Here’s a sampling of how states planned to spend the money:

"Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina households don’t have access to a computer, and nearly one third of households lack basic digital skills," Cristalle H. Dickerson, a North Carolina Department of Information Technology spokesperson, told PolitiFact.

Angela Siefer, the Ohio-based National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s executive director, said states collectively spent $60 million to create the digital equity plans. Now, if Trump’s cancellation stands, the states won’t receive money to implement the plans.

The act also included grants for nonprofits and local governments to implement projects related to the act. Sixty-five entities including the Ohio-based alliance received recommendations to get funding through the act. Only a few entities reached the stage of receiving a contract. 

The alliance estimated it would serve about 30,000 people across 11 states, many in overlapping covered populations. For example, about two-thirds of the covered people are members of a racial or ethnic minority, more than half live in low-income households and about half live in a rural area. More than 1,000 are veterans, about 5,000 are people with disabilities and 6,000 are older than 60.

Our ruling

Trump said the Digital Equity Act is a handout "based on race" and "illegal." 

Organizations familiar with the law said they are unaware of any court ruling saying it’s illegal.

The law’s text outlines several groups that lawmakers sought to benefit. Racial minorities were one of those groups. The other groups may include racial minorities but not to the exclusion of other races: low-income households; people 60 and older; people incarcerated in non-federal facilities; veterans; people with disabilities; people with language barriers; and people in rural areas.

Trump’s statement distorts the legality and intent of the legislation.

We rate it False.

RELATED: MAGA-Meter: Trump’s promise to revoke initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion

 

Our Sources

President Donald Trump, Truth Social post, May 8, 2025

Congress.gov, Digital Equity Act, April 11, 2019

Congress.gov, H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Became law Nov. 15, 2021

National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Digital Equity Act of 2021 Programs, Accessed May 13, 2025

National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Biden-Harris Administration Approves and Recommends for Award Digital Equity Capacity Grant Applications Totaling More Than $85.1 Million, Dec. 12, 2024

National Digital Inclusion Alliance, NDIA Responds to Trump Post Calling for Immediate End of Digital Equity Act Funds, May 8, 2025

Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, Achieving Digital Equity is a Matter of Social and Economic Justice and is Worth Pursuing, May 9, 2025

Maine Connectivity Alliance press release, Federal Government Terminates $35M of Funding to Provide Digital Skills and Online Safety for Rural Mainers, Small Businesses, Veterans and Low-Income Residents, May 12, 2025

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Senators Murray, Portman, and King Introduce Major Bipartisan Legislation to Close Digital Divide, Promote Digital Equity, June 10, 2021

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Statement, May 8, 2025

Sen. Angus King, Statement, Jan. 23, 2025

Ohio Department of Development, Digital Opportunity in Ohio, Accessed May 13, 2025 

New York Times, Trump Declares High-Speed Internet Program ‘Racist’ and ‘Unconstitutional’ May 8, 2025

Gov. Greg Gianforte, Governor Gianforte Secures Federal Approval of Digital Opportunity Plan, March 26, 2024

Government Technology, Could the End Be Near for the Digital Equity Act? May 9, 2025

U.S. District Court, National Council of Non Profits vs Office of Management and Budget order, Feb. 3, 2025

U.S. Department of Commerce, Grant termination letter, May 9, 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin gets millions more in broadband funding to address unmet rural and urban needs, Nov. 4, 2024

PolitiFact, Biden invested to increase broadband access, but it will take time for Americans to see benefits, Dec. 17, 2024

Email and telephone interview, Angela Siefer, executive director of National Digital Inclusion Alliance, May 12, 2025

Email interview, Susan Corbett, executive director of the National Digital Equity Center, May 12, 2025

Email interview, Zaki Barzinj, senior director, Aspen Digital, May 12, 2025

Telephone interview, Heather Gate, executive VP of digital Inclusion, Connected Nation, May 12, 2025

Email interview, Amir Avin, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) spokesperson, May 12, 2025

Email interview, Cristalle H. Dickerson, N.C. Department of Information Technology spokesperson, May 13, 2025

Email interview, Meghan Sovey-Lashua, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin spokesperson, May 13, 2025

 

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Trump called a high-speed internet program a handout ‘based on race’ and ‘illegal.’ That’s False.

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