Chairman Pai and Commissioner Rosenworcel say we need a 'national mission' to fix rural broadband

One thing Democrats and Republicans do agree on: The digital divide undercutting rural America needs to be fixed. But figuring out the details of achieving this goal is where the two sides diverge. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel agreed what's really needed to bring broadband to every American is a national vision on the scale of what the US government did when it brought electricity to rural America in the 1930s. "We were able to get electrification to happen in rural, hard-to-reach parts of this nation," Commissinoer Rosenworcel said. "We need to be able to do the same with broadband." Chairman Pai agrees that a "national mission when it comes to broadband," on the scale of what happened the better part of a century ago, is necessary. He said what gives people hope in small towns throughout rural America is the "promise of digital opportunity." People living in these areas want the same thing that people in big cities and suburban areas want, he emphasized. They want to be able to better educate their kids, access high-quality health care and enable precision agriculture to grow their businesses. And all of that in 2018 requires connectivity to high-speed internet service. "It really would be a game-changer for rural America if every town in this country were connected," he said. "And that idea is bipartisan in nature."