Buttigieg Eyes Broadband

Peter Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend (IN) and President Biden’s nominee to head the Transportation Department gave a shoutout to broadband internet during his Senate Commerce nomination hearing on Jan 21, which could help elevate the issue in a Biden infrastructure push. Buttigieg will be a leading figure on infrastructure matters if confirmed. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who co-chairs the Broadband Caucus, used her questioning to probe the matter. While acknowledging that much of this would fall outside the Department of Transportation, she advocated for “dig once” policies (For those less familiar, “dig once” policies promote laying broadband cable at the same time that roadwork projects take place). Buttigieg said “dig once” policies thrived in South Bend and he lauded the fiber broadband availability there. “Even if this is being driven by another department, I would welcome the opportunity to make sure DOT’s side of the equation is open to supporting that broadband deployment because it’s so important in so many communities,” Buttigieg said.