The Biden administration on Monday announced $42.45 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed broadband internet by the end of the decade, likening the ambitious goal to FDR’s New Deal-era rural electrification program that brought the then-modern technology to farms and rural areas across the United States.
The funds, which will be distributed as grants across U.S. states and territories, are allocated under the bipartisan infrastructure law, passed in 2021, but unveiled as the kick-off for the administration’s three-week tour highlighting infrastructure projects and private sector investment across the U.S.
[Profiting from the initiative, Flagler County is in the midst of its own extension of broadband to underserved areas in the western part of the county. See: “Between Jorge Salinas and Generous Federal Subsidies, Broadband May Finally Connect West Flagler By End of 2023.”]
“What we’re doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today (Vice President) Kamala (Harris) and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America to high speed internet, and affordable high speed internet, by 2030,” Biden said at the White House event in the East Room attended by guests and members of Congress.
“Because for today’s economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity was, or water or other basic services,” Biden continued.
Twenty-four million people lack access to high-speed internet because networks do not reach their homes or because of affordability issues, according to the administration.
Harris opened the event with a description of her visit to Sunset, Louisiana, where she said 40 percent of households do not have broadband access.
“In Sunset, I met with parents who cannot apply for remote-work jobs because they do not have a high-speed internet connection at home,” Harris said. “… I met with entrepreneurs who struggle to start or grow a small business because they cannot get online. And I met with students who, when public buildings were closed during the pandemic, had to sit in the parking lot of a local library just to submit their homework over Wi-Fi.”
Jeff Say, manager of community engagement for UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center and a resident of Culpeper County, Virginia, told the crowd that the local internet service provider’s broadband connectivity stops a half mile from his home.
“What we ended up with was a hotspot that’s spotty at best and an ongoing struggle to work our schedule around the lack of connectivity,” Say said after Harris spoke and before he introduced Biden.
“We have to drive our children into my work, to my wife’s school, or to our county library to finish projects or homework assignments. Every aspect of our daily life has now seemingly been touched by internet access — education, health, commerce, and entertainment,” he continued.
‘Bidenomics’ touted
Connecting Americans to high-speed internet is a “key part” of “Bidenomics” — Biden’s plan that “is rooted in the simple idea that we need to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up—not the top down,” according to a memo the administration released Monday.
During his remarks on broadband funding, Biden highlighted recent employment numbers and big-ticket private investment in areas like semiconductor manufacturing — a nod to the CHIPS and Science Act he signed into law in 2022 that provided subsidies for the industry — as proof of his administration’s recent economic success.
The latest round of broadband grants builds upon the Affordable Connectivity Program that provided income-eligible families at least a $30 discount per month on internet service as a part of the American Rescue Plan, both Biden and Harris noted.
Dubbed the “Internet for All” initiative, Monday’s announcement begins the near-month-long tour by Biden and administration officials to spotlight some of the 35,000 projects either funded or underway since Biden took office.
Biden is running for re-election in 2024.
The money will first be prioritized to install and upgrade broadband networks, according to the White House. Once those goals are met, remaining funds can be used for “access-, adoption- and equity-related uses.”
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration will administer the grants to all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The funding comes from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
States and territories are expected to receive a formal notice of allocated funds by June 30.
States, internet providers, tribal governments and community organizations will then have 180 days to submit grant proposals. The various grants are detailed at InternetForAll.gov.
–Ashley Murray, Florida Phoenix
Jackson1955 says
Thanks President Biden.
Keep up the great work. You have my vote in 2024!!
Tjmelton says
Does this mean I don’t have to pay ATT extortion internet service rates?? Which fail in every thunderstorm? And then, there is the question about fiber optic. Where is that? And that begs the question of how much that will be.
Jimbo99 says
It’s all about the population growth. Flagler/Palm Coast approved residential development Wes of US-1. Infrastructure has to happen there for that growth to happen. Biden isn’t doing anything more than overpopulating the USA with insecure borders. We all end up paying for this anyway with the inflation.
Brad W says
I am guessing like the EV grant refusal the County will not be applying for this grant either for their broadband initiative for parts of the unincorporated area that do not have service and prefer to just spend that $1.8M out of local tax dollars. Don’t want to touch that Biden money Dave, Greg, and Leanne/Bonnie.
Deborah Coffey says
DeeSantis will likely ignore the grant in another very stupid, cruel move.
https://thecapitolist.com/five-million-dollar-desantis-veto-triggers-cancellation-of-346-million-in-federal-funding/
don miller says
you thought you were getting better and safer air traffic control, roads, bridges , dams , airports, etc.. with Joe’s highly touted infrastructure bill to re-build worn out infrastructure. Ha!! None of that is even started yet and we are already raiding the cookie jar for subsidized internet. You’re getting subsidized internet for people too broke, or unemp0loyed, or welfare (doubt it is medically homebound). Why are we pretending it is for all hardworking Americans living way out on farms like FDR made the electric companies run electricity to? The rest of working taxpayers are so generous. Big diff between FDR and bidenomics. Vote buying subsidies.
Bill C says
No problem with bank bailouts and tax breaks for billionaires? In 2021 the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the US paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent. “Why are we pretending it is for all hardworking Americans living way out on farms?”
don miller says
precisely, if you believe yourself. Billionaires are not paying for this subsidy, the middle class hardworking tax payers. Plus they are already paying for their own internet besides. Further, where’s the emphasis on the foot dragging hard point infrastructure fix you should be pointing out? Bet Pete is on vacation for the 4th of July traveling snarls he should be monitoring and finding out where his infrastructure money isn’t being deployed. Every election it is the “infrastructure” red herring like Obama and his shovel ready that never happened. The money appropriated to fix the infrastructure gets stolen to buy votes like this project and Solyndras.
Denali says
Do some research. FDR did not ‘make’ electric companies run service to farms. The Rural Electrification Act simply provided enabling legislation for rural areas to form electrical co-ops and provided them with low cost loans to construct the necessary power grid for rural America. There was no government mandate to provide electricity – but, the people wanted it. Loans were made and repaid.
For what it is worth, those of us who live on farms are not “people too broke, or unemp0loyed, or welfare” (whatever all that means?). we provide the food you eat and improve the quality of the environment through our conservation practices for all you ‘city folk’.
Pogo says
@Can you hear me now
We all do better when we all do better.
— Paul Wellstone
https://www.google.com/search?q=Paul+Wellstone
Atwp says
Sounds great. How many Republican Governors will fight this in their states. Remember high speed rail from the Obama Administration. The Repubs rejected it. Anything to help the Middle Class the Republicans will reject it. People keep voting for them.
don miller says
why don’t we have star link internet like musk gave ukraine. Why are we subsidizing monthly internet costs for people. This was supposed to be a hard point infrastructure bill not a bidennet subsidy like the subsidized obamaphone. more heartfelt vote buying?
Sherry says
@dm. . . Here is the “fundamental” thing you (and FOX) choose not to comprehend. . . the $$$ for the infrastructure projects is relegated to individual states for those purposes. Unfortunately, the federal government/President Biden does not personally control how that money is spent each and every step along the way. If you have a complaint about how those projects are rolled out, contact DeSantis!
BTW. . . “you” have just won this week’s mindless MAGA Bingo game. . . Congratulations!
Tony Mack says
Any bets the Tallahassee Tyrant and his Taliban legislature will take the money but it will never be used to upgrade anything but their friends? If they do take the funds, they’ll claim all along it was their idea…witness the following:
“…Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) tweeted praise for federal legislation that will send money for broadband expansion in rural Alabama when astute Twitter users, including MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan, pointed out, “You voted against it.”
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program passed in 2021 as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It provides $40 billion to increase internet access across the country. Former President Donald Trump urged a “no” vote on the bill, which Tuberville heeded. However, 19 Republicans, including Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), voted in favor. The measure passed the Senate 69-30.
“Broadband is vital for the success of our rural communities and for our entire economy. Great to see Alabama receive crucial funds to boost ongoing broadband efforts,” Tuberville tweeted this week about the $1.4 billion pledge to his state.
Hasan was quick to drag the senator, as were other notables.
“The announcement was made by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, who was the only Alabama representative to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Biden. None of the six Alabama Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the bill,” Al.com reported.
Former Sen. Doug Jones, whom Tuberville defeated in 2020, tweeted Monday, “I bet they will damn sure take credit when it’s installed,” then added Tuesday, “Well I guess I was wrong in yesterday’s tweet – in this article Alabama Republicans didn’t wait until installation of broadband to take credit for federal dollars they had nothing to do with and in fact opposed.”
Tuberville hasn’t yet to respond to the criticism.”
Tony Mack says
And still another Republican hypocrite, this one in South Carolina…Republican Nancy Mace — She voted against the legislation but when the money is being handed out — they are the first ones with their hands out while telling their constituents — “See what I did for you”. Republicans have never done anything to assist the average American…never. Someone earlier posted about President Biden and the infrastructure legislation but didn’t bother to note that bridges are being built, roads are being repaired and people are finding jobs.
These hypocrites are the first ones to shout “Socialism” but they are next in line, as it were, to collect their Social Security, their Medicare, their VA, without once acknowledging that it was Democratic Administrations that established those programs, and it is the Republicans who have stated they will destroy them.
“…Rep. Nancy Mace (R) is back home in South Carolina to celebrate transportation money being spent in the Lowcountry. Just a few months ago, however, she voted against the bill that funded it, WCDB reported Wednesday.
In fact, every South Carolina member of Congress except for Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) voted against President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure legislation that is fixing roads and bridges and connecting high-speed internet to rural areas.
For Mace, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding coming to the Lowcountry will be in the form of $26 million for the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) to build a workforce center.
The cash will refurbish Shipwatch Square into a “super stop charging station” for electric buses.
Sec. Pete Buttigieg celebrated Clyburn as a “relentless advocate for this project.”
“Remember, this bipartisan infrastructure law is the sort of thing that was promised and attempted under previous presidencies and previous congresses. People said they were going to deliver landmark infrastructure legislation and I think that’s part of why when President Biden said it was going to be a priority people said, ‘Oh, we’ll see,'” Buttigieg said to laughter in the audience.
He went on to celebrate the mayor, saying that there were people on hand from the city, county and even local universities that were behind the project.
“You can feel all the way out in Washington, you can feel the difference when a community pulls together behind a vision like this,” he continued. He did not acknowledge Congresswoman Mace in the remarks.
WCDB cited a release from Chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party, Sam Skardon, explaining just how shameless Mace’s presence was at such an event.
“It is important for every Lowcountry voter to know that not only did Rep. Mace vote against this critical infrastructure bill, she wrote an opinion column for Fox News in April 2021 calling it a ‘fiasco,’ ‘absurd,’ and this specific program (funding for electric mass transit vehicles) an example of ‘socialism,'”, he wrote in a Wednesday morning news release.
Mace’s own personal press conference about the event began at 10 a.m., after Buttigieg’s, but none of the local news stations appeared to carry it live…”
Denali says
No, this is nothing like the Rural Electrification Act. The REA provided lost cost loans to groups of rural citizens and farmers to construct power lines and maintain them. Hundreds of local co-ops of REA’s (Rural Electric Associations) and REMC’s (Rural Electric Membership Cooperatives) were formed to accept these loans and oversee the line construction and power distribution. Those loans paid for the poles, the lines and the equipment to run the system. The actual installation was done by the farmers living along a roadway, guided by the REMC folks. These programs today are simply give-a-ways to private industry. Keep in mind, the Rural Electrification Act provided LOANS, not pay-offs to private companies. Those loans were paid off decades ago with interest. We will never see one cent of these handouts repaid to the treasury.
At our farm up north we belong to an REMC which has been providing electrical service to our area since 1936. We pay some of the lowest rates in the country and have service crews that would make FPL blush with embarrassment. Two years ago they undertook a project to provide broadband to all members in the county via fiber optic cable. Over the last six months we and our neighbors have been able to toss out our tin cans and strings and connect to a broadband service with 100 Mbs up and down for $64.95 per month. Faster service speeds are available. The local REMC, a member owned cooperative, made this happen for its members by borrowing the necessary funds, hiring the right people and installing the fiber cable system. Quite a feat considering that all of the major players laughed at us when we wanted decent internet service – not enough customers per mile.
Now along comes the fed handing out millions of dollars to those same big players to bribe them into providing us with internet service. As I write this Media Comm is plowing in new fiber optic cable along my road knowing full well that each house they pass is now connected to the REMC system. This does not bother them since they know they can undercut REMC because the cables and infrastructure did not cost them a nickel out of their pockets. Why should these companies be given such an advantage?
So no, this is nothing like the old REA’s and REMC’s where through the co-op, neighbors helped neighbors. This is a hand out to private businesses who laughed at the thought of investing in rural America until the government put some cash in their pockets.