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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission is upping its benchmark for high-speed fixed broadband to download speeds of 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of 20 megabits per second, the first major change the standard has seen since 2015.
Lawmakers want to use the farm bill to make the Agriculture Department's ReConnect loan and grant program for rural broadband permanent, but they still need to settle a debate about whether to ease the required service speeds.
The top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman, says he doesn’t know whether the extra money Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has identified for the next farm bill will be enough to bolster commodity programs and crop insurance.
Groups and lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are scrambling to save a popular broadband affordability program before it runs out of funding.
USDA is distributing almost $714 million for broadband connectivity projects through the fourth round of the ReConnect Program, an announcement that will direct loan and grant funding to 33 projects across the country.
State broadband offices and researchers say new maps from the Federal Communications Commission that will be used to allocate billions of dollars in funding have failed to catch large swaths of the population without adequate internet speeds.
USDA Rural Development has announced the fourth round of its ReConnect program, which will offer more than $1 billion to expand broadband in rural America and begin taking applications in September.
The Biden administration is rolling out private sector commitments for an effort it says could lower the cost of high-speed internet for 40% of the households in the country.
