The Trump administration has rescinded a $16 million grant to create a new cybersecurity literacy program in Washington.
The state Department of Commerce received word of the canceled funding Friday. That was one day after President Donald Trump called the Digital Equity Act that created the grant program “racist” and “unconstitutional.”
The letter the U.S. Department of Commerce sent state officials on Friday followed the same logic, calling the digital equity program “unconstitutional.” It said “grants issued pursuant to it were created with, and administered using, impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences.”
States across the nation have received similar notices.
The federal law, authored by Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, was included in the bipartisan infrastructure package President Joe Biden signed in 2021. It is meant to help groups ranging from veterans, to disabled people, to older Americans and rural communities. People of color could also benefit from the federal money.
In a call with reporters Wednesday, the Democratic senator said it is “absolutely nuts that Trump is blocking resources to help make sure kids in rural districts can get hotspots or laptops all because he doesn’t like the word ‘equity.’”
In total, the Digital Equity Act provided about $2.75 billion, with $60 million initially going to states in 2022 to develop equity plans for internet access. The feds then doled out money to put those plans into effect.
States led by Democrats and Republicans alike had been planning to spend the funding. Washington was awarded nearly $16 million in December, about a month before Trump took office.
The state Department of Commerce planned to spend the money on establishing a Broadband Cybersecurity Literacy Program so Washingtonians know how to use internet-related technology safely. The program would develop a curriculum to be incorporated into existing digital literacy training. Such training is included in the state’s Digital Equity Plan.
“It’s about building a future where every person in Washington, regardless of their background or where they live, has the resources and knowledge they need to participate fully in our digital society,” the state’s then-Commerce Director Mike Fong said at the time the grant was awarded.
Washington hadn’t spent any of the money, but was about to award a contract to develop the curriculum, said Commerce spokesperson Amelia Lamb.
Aaron Wheeler, the director of the Washington State Broadband Office, said the funding termination “perpetuates existing disparities that fall most heavily on our state’s rural communities.”
“It will increase inequalities,” Wheeler told reporters. “The digital divide will widen, further impacting vulnerable populations and limiting their access to education, employment, health care and civil engagement opportunities.”
The Trump administration is likely to face court challenges over the canceled grants, as it has for many other instances of terminated federal funding.
This money is separate from $1.2 billion Washington has received from the feds through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. The funding, known by the acronym BEAD, goes toward directly improving internet infrastructure in rural communities and other areas lacking high-speed internet service.
So far, the Trump administration hasn’t frozen that money.
By the end of January, the state had received over 300 applications for pieces of that $1.2 billion. Wheeler expects to have a plan on how to spend the money submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the fall.
Some experts fear the Trump administration is trying to steer money away from fiber networks and toward satellite internet, with Elon Musk’s Starlink as a beneficiary of the change.
But Washington is proceeding with caution, given the word “equity” is in the BEAD name. Wheeler said the state is waiting for further guidance from the telecommunications agency.
“Things change overnight,” he added, “and we’re just kind of being very, very cognizant of what may be going on.”
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