First-term senator and Donald Trump running mate JD Vance of Ohio is a former tech investor and venture capitalist turned critic of Big Tech who has sometimes backed positions antithetical to GOP members of Congress.
Vance, for example, this year joined a handful of other Republican senators and 29 Democrats to back a measure that would continue funding a key Biden administration program providing high-speed internet subsidies for low-income households. In supporting it, he opposed Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who’ve deemed the program wasteful spending.
The Vance-backed bill would extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, created by Congress as part of the 2021 infrastructure law by providing an additional $7 billion on top of the $14.2 billion that was previously appropriated. The fund ran out of money at the end of May.
