True.
I just read the bill(? DOC-372069A1.pdf) to see if I could pivot it into a national cooperative of local cooperatives.
but they managed to include:
"""
35. [...] we exclude from eligibility [...] construction of new networks, including the construction of self-provisioned networks. In so doing, we agree with commenters [Lobbyist?] that [...] Emergency Connectivity Fund Program support to construct new networks or self-provisioned networks is inconsistent with Congress' intent to fund "the purchase" of broadband services to meet students, school staff and library patrons' immediate needs, rather than the construction of networks. As such, we disagree with those commenters [citzens] that argue that Congress intended that the Emergency Connectivity Fund be used to support everything eligible [so it is a restriction on top of the base law] under the E-Rate Program's category one services
"""
So, yeah, that money is *ONLY* to purchase already existing monopolized access from the big 3 who paid effective lobbyists to screw everyone here.