Thune, Lujan Refile Bill to Bolster USDA Rural Broadband Programs
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., led filing Monday of the Rural Internet Improvement Act in a bid to bolster Agriculture Department broadband programs’ funding for rural areas. The measure, which Lujan…
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and Thune first filed in November (see 2211290064), would combine USDA’s traditional broadband loan and grant program and the ReConnect program. It would also mandate that ReConnect funding goes only to areas in which 90% of households are unserved, and would make changes to the program’s challenge process. Thune’s office suggested the legislation is among his proposals for inclusion in the 2023 farm bill process. “Our bipartisan legislation would help bridge the digital divide by improving” ReConnect “to ensure its funding goes to truly unserved areas,” Thune said. The “difference between fast internet, slow internet, and no internet” must “change to bridge the digital divide that leaves rural and Tribal communities unconnected,” Lujan said. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are co-sponsors. Thune’s office cited support from the American Farm Bureau Federation, NCTA, NTCA and other agricultural groups.