Beltway politics kept Kansas Republicans in Congress from backing broadband access for rural towns

Despite opposition from most of our Kansas congressional delegation, new federal dollars are coming to Kansas to expand broadband access. President Joe Biden recently signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, fulfilling a 2020 campaign promise. The bill had moderate bipartisan support, though every Republican in Congress from Kansas opposed it. The only Kansan to support it was Rep Sharice Davids (D-KS). Kansas will receive about $4 billion from the bill, including about $100 million to expand broadband infrastructure and money to help 669,000 working class Kansans get discounted internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program. The infrastructure bill has odd politics considering that several provisions — like broadband — disproportionately help Republican-leaning rural communities. Why would our elected Republicans oppose it? Even if our Republican lawmakers secretly supported the infrastructure bill and broadband money for Kansas, politics prevented them from being open about it. Maybe they feared ending their political careers in a primary. But rural Kansans getting internet via dial-up or a slow mobile hotspot with limited data probably don’t care which president’s signature helps bring them broadband.

[Patrick R. Miller is an associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas]