Senators Urge Biden Administration to Create Modern, Unified Federal Broadband Standard

In a letter to the Biden Administration’s top officials for federal broadband policy -- including Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Acting Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Jessica Rosenworcel, and Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese -- the senators called on federal agencies to update broadband program speed requirements to reflect existing and anticipated uses, from two-way video conferencing to smart grids to artificial intelligence. The senators also urged the officials to work together to align the definition of what constitutes high-speed broadband across federal agencies to replace the patchwork of standards that exist today. The senators called on the administration to invest limited federal broadband dollars in faster and more reliable networks capable of supporting modern and future uses. Specifically, they urged the administration to set a goal of supporting networks wherever practicable and cost effective that provide, at a minimum, symmetrical speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) such that all members of a typical family can be online simultaneously without issue.