Sen Wyden Urges FCC to Make Rural Broadband a Priority This Year

In a letter to Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged the FCC to close the digital divide by making rural broadband a priority in 2021 that expands internet access to all communities in Oregon and nationwide. As Congress looks ahead to an infrastructure package that will help communities recover from the COVID-19 crisis, in line with President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, we have a unique opportunity to close this country’s digital divide and jumpstart future job and wage growth across the country,” Wyden wrote in his letter to Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. “I believe it is time for our country to state unequivocally that it is an American priority to make broadband in 2021 what electricity became eighty years ago: an essential service on which every household could count, in every nook and cranny of rural America. During the heart of the Great Depression, this country built out energy infrastructure to light up rural America and ensure that every community benefited from modern technology. Now, almost a century later, the internet is that modern technology necessary to drive economic growth, promote education and health care, and improve Americans’ daily lives in all communities across the country.