$42 billion in public funding for internet infrastructure buildout is hitting our streets this year. CWA members worked hard to make sure projects that will build reliable, durable fiber connections and create good, union jobs were at the top of the list.

But now the future of that funding is in jeopardy. President Trump's Billionaire Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, changed the rules and ordered states that had already awarded funds to providers to rescind them and conduct another round of applications.

Under the new rules, reliable, future-proof fiber internet connections will no longer receive preference for funding. Instead, states are required to select the technology that’s cheapest to deploy, without consideration of the long-run costs to customers. This is going to leave millions of households and businesses with second-class service, particularly in rural areas.

The new rules also forbid states from including labor standards and affordability as part of their requirements. The rules that CWA members fought so hard for to reduce the use of low-road contractors on broadband projects are now prohibited.

What all this adds up to is more money for non-union satellite and unlicensed fixed wireless executives and investors like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and fewer jobs for locally-based union workers. It means that people will be waiting longer and paying more for worse service.

Sign our petition to ask your state's governor and broadband office to make sure that as many households and businesses as possible have access to affordable, future-proof fiber internet service. Ask them to emphasize the technological necessity of high-speed fiber broadband when they re-submit their application for broadband funding.