Members of Congress from both parties are working on legislation to improve the country’s high-speed internet infrastructure as Americans remain stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Having affordable broadband — it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., the chair of the House subcommittee on communications and technology. “Broadband infrastructure has to be one of the key elements to that, and this pandemic has brought that right to the forefront.”
The Journal notes that the high cost of upgrading broadband infrastructure in remote parts of the country is a major reason why Congress has kept from acting on this issue until now, when the coronavirus pandemic has caused millions of Americans to stay at home, where they need internet access to work or apply for work, to obtain unemployment benefits or small business loans, or for children who could use it to attend classes online.
The outbreak “helps us drive the point home as to urgency,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. “Absolutely it gives us an impetus — that is one of the silver linings here.”
He added, “I know there is a great deal of interest among Republicans and Democrats in taking a small portion of the funds in the next phase” for broadband. “The president is talking about a Phase 4 [of legislation] and Republicans and Democrats are talking infrastructure as a part of that. I do not think it will be enacted without a broadband component.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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