Adie Tomer

November 15, 2023, marks the two-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) becoming law. After decades spent waiting for Congress to pass such a historic infrastructure bill, this is certainly a celebratory moment. So, at the two-year mark, where do we stand? Based on our analysis of published White House data, IIJA implementation is just now hitting its stride. Formula and direct federal spending continue to move at a steady pace, already pumping $229 billion into state coffers and direct investment projects.

Digital food access could be a game-changer for people who struggle with brick-and-mortar food access barriers, including those living in disinvested areas historically defined as “food deserts” and individuals facing mobility challenges or time constraints.

Late November 5th, the House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The bill now goes directly to President Biden’s desk, where it will certainly become law. America finally has a generation-defining infrastructure bill—and if the reconciliation budget comes through, too, America will begin a building spree larger than what happened during the New Deal. When landmark legislation like IIJA gets passed, it’s easy to overemphasize victories on Capitol Hill. But that’s not the case for infrastructure. Passing IIJA is only the end of the beginning.

Now with a major congressional negotiation on infrastructure underway and a new presidential administration in place, federal leaders have a historic opportunity to revisit past policies to better support today’s metropolitan leaders and their contemporary ambitions. That process, though, must start with a clear understanding of what regional leaders need—and not just infrastructure agencies, but also the business leadership and community groups that all collaborate to build competitive, inclusive, and resilient economies.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act offer billions of broadband-related dollars to reduce consumer prices, build out network infrastructure, and fund digital skills programming. How should state and local leaders balance it all? We recommend a two-phase strategy.

How can Congress design an infrastructure stimulus that responds to today’s recession while still making forward-looking investments? This brief uses historical data and the earliest indicators from the COVID-19 downturn to make the case for a people-first approach to federal infrastructure stimulus. We specifically recommend that Congress:

The American economy continues to digitalize at an astounding pace, but tens of millions of American households cannot access the digital economy due to physical gaps in local broadband networks, unaffordable subscription plans and personal devices, and a lack of digital skills. Digital equity offices would aim to address these structural barriers and ensure the digital economy reaches all local households.

As part of a larger project around digital equity, we visited Texas’s Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area, a community with low rates of broadband adoption and spotty service. We can look to this community to better understand the opportunities for overcoming barriers to broadband adoption. Leaders in the region—including the city manager, the head of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, and representatives from local health and housing centers—all know that to improve economic conditions, they need to increase broadband penetration, adoption, and use.

The Finger Lakes Digital Inclusion Coalition is a group situated in the rural counties to the south and west of Rochester (NY). The experience here demonstrates the specific barriers faced by rural communities, giving a face to national data. The coalition also proves how communities cannot just wait for outside help—their success relies on bootstrap innovation and consensus-building to help attract support from their state and federal partners. Already, coalition members and partner groups in the region have begun experimenting with a host of creative solutions to expand broadband access.

As COVID-19 requires more schools to transition to online learning, the students who were already the most vulnerable to falling behind will face even more hurdles to keep pace. The efforts of the Federal Communications Commission and Internet service providers during this crisis ought to be commended, but their quick response also begs the question: Was broadband access not essential before COVID-19? Long before the coronavirus drew national attention to the issue, digital inclusion advocates were stressing the disparate outcomes for students without internet.