President Biden’s plan to fix America’s broken internet, briefly explained

President Joe Biden's $2 trillion American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal provides $100 billion to America’s digital infrastructure, with a lofty goal of giving all Americans access to the affordable, reliable high-speed internet they need to participate in today’s economy. The fact sheet the Biden administration released doesn’t go into the details beyond saying how much money President Biden wants to invest and, generally, what he hopes the return on that investment will be: high-speed, “future-proof” broadband access covering the entire country; more competition between providers, including municipally owned plans and co-ops; and reduced costs. Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that the Biden plan was based on the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, which she and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) introduced in their respective houses in 2020 and reintroduced in March.

Anna Read, a senior research officer with the broadband access initiative at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said that the federal government should look to state and local broadband access programs, which Read believes will be the key to implementing Biden’s vision. “States have really been leading on this issue over the last few years,” Read said. “They’ve been investing significant state dollars and expanding broadband access. ... Increasingly, states are beginning to look at the affordability question as well.”“This is a significant infrastructure challenge but it is also an affordability challenge,” Read said. “Addressing the two in tandem will be very important to closing the digital divide.”