New technologies allow people in even the most remote areas to do business on a global scale, but only if they have broadband connectivity.

The Senate Appropriations subcommittee advanced a fiscal 2019 spending bill for USDA and FDA that would provide $425 million in funding for rural broadband expansion to add to the $600 million that Congress provided for this year.

The omnibus funding bill for 2018 that President Donald Trump signed into law last week specifically acknowledges “the importance of the deployment of wireless broadband services in rural areas of the United States.”

As lawmakers prepare to move a new farm bill, one of the smallest titles is taking on an outsized importance as Congress looks to address priority issues for the Trump administration.