‘People need to see it': How politics hung up a $42 billion Biden internet buildout

President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law promised to help Virginia expand broadband internet to hard-to-reach corners of the commonwealth—investing nearly $1.5 billion to improve a key service across a swing state crucial to Democrats’ hopes in the November election. The program, known officially as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (or BEAD) and embedded in Biden’s mammoth infrastructure law, was meant to bring a vital service to communities across America. The success or failure of the program could have political implications for the 2024 elections, but thanks to a federal affordability requirement that telecommunications companies say is too tight, many states have sparred with Washington over their funding applications, delaying the rollout. There’s little chance that communities across the country will see concrete results until 2025 at the soonest—well past Biden’s time in office—and no chance at all before November’s election.