Chuck Abbott

The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill (HR.4374) to provide $43 billion over eight years to bring broadband service to hundreds of thousands of families and businesses that lack access. The bulk of the money, $36 billion, would go to loans, grants, and loan guarantees for the construction or improvement of internet service in small towns and rural areas with poor or no service.

The US Department of Agriculture should pursue full access to broadband service in rural America, said Mike Espy, Dan Glickman, and Ann Veneman, three former agriculture secretaries. “This whole issue of rural broadband, everybody talks about (it), but nothing seems to happen,” said Dan Glickman, who called for a project, similar to building the interstate highway system, to make high-speed internet service available nationwide as soon as possible. The pandemic, by shifting school and work online, amplified the need for service everywhere, he said.