Maine Lawmakers: Reverse Digital Equity Cancellations

The Trump administration canceled grants under the Digital Equity Act earlier this month.

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2025 – Maine lawmakers urged the Commerce Department Wednesday to reverse its cancellation of digital equity grants.

“Terminating these funds will increase the difficulties for individuals and families to use the internet to improve their lives and fully participate in an increasingly digital world,” lawmakers wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “We urge the Department of Commerce to reverse this decision immediately and restore funding for this vital program.”

All four federal lawmakers from Maine signed the letter, led by Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican.

The Commerce Department cancelled grants issued under the Digital Equity Act on May 9, telling state governments and nonprofits that President Donald Trump and Lutnick had deemed its programs unconstitutional, a move program supporters and Democratic lawmakers have said was illegal. The cancellations followed a social media post from Trump calling the law’s programs “racist and illegal.”

The act allocated $2.75 billion to address barriers to broadband adoption that persist after infrastructure is deployed, like expensive devices or a lack of experience navigating online services. It specified certain “covered populations” at whom funded programs could be targeted, including racial and ethnic minorities, which is what the Trump administration opposed.

Cancellation emails told grantees their awards were made with “impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences.”

Programs could be also aimed at rural Americans, which Collins and her Democratic colleagues said was important for their home state.

“With the administration’s termination announcement, Maine expects to lose the majority of the $35 million it had been awarded to support digital skills and cybersecurity training, expand workforce development, and increase the capacity of the state’s libraries and other community organizations to provide telehealth and educational services,” the lawmakers wrote.

The Maine Connectivity Authority had been awarded $10 million, while two nonprofits in the state were awarded nearly $25 million.

“MCA is exploring Maine’s options to respond to the legality of the grant termination,” ​​Maggie Drummond-Bahl, senior director of partnerships at MCA, said in a statement last week. “Our team is also evaluating how best to proceed with critical programming and investments that are currently underway with our existing plans and statewide digital equity strategy.”

Other states have in recent days been telling stakeholders the programs they had been running with their digital equity funding, both through in-house work and subgranting out money to local organizations, are being halted after the funding was cut off.

Every state submitted a digital equity plan to the Biden administration to be eligible for funding, more than $500 million of which was awarded to states. The Biden Commerce Department recommended $619 million in grants to nonprofits and other groups, but only a small number had entered into contracts by the time awards were revoked.

Earlier this month, Collins voted in favor of a resolution to repeal a Federal Communications Commission rule subsidizing Wi-Fi hotspots for students and library patrons to use off-campus. It passed the Senate, and a companion effort has been introduced in the House.