Sen Tina Smith (D-MN)

The strongly bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $65 billion to bring quality, affordable broadband networks to communities – especially those in rural America – that for too long have struggled to thrive without modern high-speed internet. When I first came to the Senate, a top priority of mine was to increase access to broadband. It’s a 21st Century necessity for communities working to attract families and businesses, and to create jobs and economic development.

Sen Tina Smith (D-MN) led her Senate colleagues in calling on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to speed up spending the resources allocated within COVID-19 relief legislation to expand broadband access for Minnesota families and people across the country. In her letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Sen Smith and her colleagues point out that Congress recognized the urgent need for broadband access in rural communities, and made sure the CARES Act included $100 million for the ReConnect Program. However, much of the allocated funds are still unspent.

The US ranks forty-sixth when it comes to pregnancy-related deaths and is the only industrialized country in the world with an increasing maternal mortality rate. Maternal mortality is a particularly striking issue in rural America.

Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced legislation—the Community Connect Grant Program Act—to establish the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program under law and make improvements to the grant program that makes funding available for broadband projects in tribal, low-income, and remote rural areas. The USDA Community Connect program through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) helps fund broadband deployment into rural communities. In addition to authorizing the program and targeting areas that lack access across the nation, Sen.