Obama to include broadband in economic stimulus package

Last weekend in his weekly radio address, President-Elect Barack Obama announced that he would  be including money for broadband deployment and adoption in his economic recovery plan.

Obama said:

"As we renew our schools and highways, we'll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world.

"In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the Internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the Internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I'm proposing will help modernize our health care system and that won't just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor's office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year."

CWA's Speed Matters campaign has been in touch with Obama since the Iowa caucuses.  His proposals for universal high speed Internet access and his recognition of broadband's importance to the economic recovery reflect the work CWA members did during the campaign to focus attention on the issue.

Obama's economic recovery plan would save or create 2.5 million jobs according to his transition website.

The President-Elect plans on rolling out the specifics of the plan in the coming weeks.

President-elect Barack Obama lays out key parts of Economic Recovery Plan (Change.gov)

It doesn't get much more high profile than this(Speed Matters)

Call to Action for a Broadband Strategy (Speed Matters)

Making Sure the Candidates Get the Message (Speed Matters)