A Friday morning news release from the office of U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, outlined a bipartisan-backed “Rural Internet Improvement Act,” aiming to increase access to broadband internet for rural parts of the country.
The congresswoman is all too familiar with having limited access to internet. Living in Skamania County, Gluesenkamp Perez told a town hall in Centralia last week, she’s the “only member of Congress” without broadband at home.
“I get my internet from a radio tower and I have cellphone service for half my drive home. So, this is critical,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
It’s about more than cat videos on YouTube, she added: in the modern age, access to the internet means access to education, telehealth care, the ability to work, file taxes and more.
Yet more than 14.5 million Americans lack access to both fixed and mobile broadband, according to the FCC's most recent Broadband Deployment Report, the release stated.
The “Rural Internet Improvement Act” would eliminate “duplicative” broadband programs by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, merging its current broadband grant program with other grants. It would ultimately increase participation by all types of providers, the release stated.
The bill is co-sponsored by Texas and Florida Republican representatives Ronny Jackson and Kat Cammack, along with Florida Democrat Rep. Darren Soto. A bipartisan group introduced the bill in the Senate, too.
“Struggling to access the internet is part of everyday life for me and my community. This bipartisan bill brings us closer to ending the digital divide and making sure people can access the internet no matter where they live," Gluesenkamp Perez said.
In Lewis County, the congresswoman has met with the Broadband Action Team and told the town hall last week she was impressed by ToledoTel’s investment in rural internet. One concern she has, though, is the lack of competition for the industry in rural areas. The new bipartisan legislation could address that, as it encourages more kinds of providers.
“Remember Elon Musk was actually providing free satellite internet to the people in Ukraine? And then when somebody tweeted something at him and his feelings got hurt, he threatened to shut off the satellite internet that their military was relying on,” Gluesenkamp Perez said last week. “There are real national security interests in owning the hardwire and owning the equipment (for internet) and not being reliant on some billionaire with a temper tantrum. So it’s important that we are making those investments.”
