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Congressional Democrats seek $40 billion for rural broadand

Congressional Democrats want $40 billion in federal funding to develop affordable broadband service in rural America.  In a news conference last week, democratic lawmakers compared today’s need for rural broadband to the Roosevelt era need for rural electrification.

“What we’re saying is that the electricity of today is highspeed internet access,” said Cheri Bustos, Congresswoman from Illinois, who introduced the plan – called A Better Deal – which includes connecting every American to reliable highspeed internet.

During the news conference, Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said the lack of rural broadband service is an impediment to food producers.

“When Michigan farmers can’t use new precision agriculture technologies to monitor their apple orchards or irrigate their fields, they’re being left behind,” said Stabenow.

The lawmakers say 23 million rural Americans don’t have internet service of adequate speed and quality.