House Ag Committee Tackling “Digital Divide” With Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC – The House Agriculture Committee met on Wednesday to outline and debate HR 4374, the Broadband Internet Connections for Rural America Act.

Long considered to be one of the most pressing issues affecting the nation today, Chairman of the Committee David Scott (GA-D) outlined how USDA will be tasked with solving the problem of what many call the “digital divide”.

The program has actually been part of law through previous farm bills according to USDA, but has never had funds appropriated to implement the program.

Specifically the bill directs $50 billion toward “critically needed infrastructure for rural broadband and also includes resources to ensure that this funding is used in a timely manner and accessible to rural communities with limited resources”.

Recently, Chairman Scott held a hearing focused on the lack of high speed internet access in rural communities and asked each witness how the problem could be solved by the end of the year. “When you put a time frame on it and put that time frame into law” and provide the money, Scott added, then you can begin to solve the problem. His goal is to have it passed into law before October 1st to take advantage of money in the current fiscal year.