Lawmakers Urge USDA to Push More Funds to Rural Broadband

Government Technology: U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have joined a bipartisan group urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to direct funding for broadband Internet expansion to high-need rural areas.

Collins, a Republican, and King, an independent, urged the USDA on Tuesday in a jointly written letter to set aside part of a $600 million rural broadband fund for “geographically challenged” areas. They cited a Federal Communications Commission statistic that of the 24 million U.S. households that do not have reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service, 80 percent are located in rural areas.

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