Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron is clapping back at President Donald Trump's claim that the Digital Equity Act is “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” and “RACIST.”
“The Trump administration is spiking plans states spent years developing to help their own residents, in favor of trying to redirect billions into Elon Musk’s pockets via his Starlink satellite internet service. It’s the sort of government graft, seizing resources from the public and awarding them to Trump loyalists, that has come to typify this White House,” Aaron said in a press release.
The bipartisan infrastructure law was passed during the Biden administration and was designed to help the elderly, working people, veterans, disabled individuals, low-income families, and people in rural communities.
The group said Trump's decision "will keep the internet out of reach for millions."
“This program seems to have been targeted simply because it contains the word ‘equity’ and might help communities of color.” Aaron added, “The Trump regime has declared war on fairness and opportunity in all its forms, harming some of the most vulnerable among us. If Trump succeeds with this cruel scheme, we will have squandered an unprecedented opportunity to improve people's lives and close the digital divide once and for all.”
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He went on to attack Trump’s rant directly, “Trump throws around words like racist and unconstitutional in his rants — but those only accurately describe his own motivations and actions. Digital inclusion is an undeniable public good. Yet the very idea that people of color, disabled people, or poor people might benefit in a small way from these programs is so abhorrent to Trump that he’s determined to destroy the whole thing.”
The act created $2.75 billion in federal grants, which Congress committed to help close the digital divide.
Aaron lastly said, “Congress appropriated these funds, of course, and the executive branch's only job should be to distribute them. But the lapdogs in the majority on Capitol Hill seem unwilling to mount much of a protest over the president's wasteful and unjust abuses, regardless of the real harm to their own constituents.”
On Thursday, Trump posted on Truth social, “I have spoken with my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and we 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!”
