48 US senators to Trump: any infrastructure plan must include broadband

Forty-eight US senators signed a bipartisan letter to President Trump urging him to prioritize policies that will promote the deployment of high-speed, reliable broadband for all Americans as part of any infrastructure initiative.

“In order to maintain the United States’ position as a global leader for innovation, we must invest to expand our broadband infrastructure,” the letter read. “This effort should include bringing broadband connections to locations where economic conditions or geography have made deployment difficult and improving the quality and affordability of existing broadband connections.”

The letter was released by the co-chairs of the Senate Broadband Caucus – Senators Angus King (I-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), John Boozman (R-AR), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) – and signed by almost half of the senate body, Democrats and Republicans.  

If President Trump is looking for ideas, Democratic senators have already released an infrastructure proposal that includes $20 billion for broadband buildout. “This funding will be available to projects currently eligible under programs at both the Department of Commerce and the US Department of Agriculture,” the plan says. “We also propose expanding the programs to enable grant recipients to use grant funds to deploy various types of infrastructure capable of offering, middle-mile, last-mile wired and wireless broadband access, and adding evaluation criteria in the awards process to ensure that the funding goes to the most effective and efficient uses.”

Links:

King, Capito, Heitkamp, Boozman, Klobuchar Lead 48 Senators in Urging President Trump to Include Broadband in Any Infrastructure Initiative (US Senate, Jan. 31, 2017)

Democratic infrastructure plan includes $20 billion for broadband (Speed Matters, Jan. 26, 2017)

A Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure (US Senate Democrats, Jan. 24, 2017)