President Biden will announce Monday a plan to distribute more than $40 billion to expand high-speed internet access throughout the country.
The plan is part of the administration’s push to bridge the so-called digital divide in the U.S. and connect about 8.5 million people to the internet, particularly in hard-to-reach or underserved areas.
Administration officials say high-speed internet is a need-to-have service, not something that’s simply nice to have.
The memo said the internet funding will be available to all 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia, and target areas with slower download and upload speeds.
Maps from the Federal Communications Commission suggest about 7% of the country has poor connectivity.
“Just like Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered electricity to every home in America through his Rural Electrification Act, the announcement is part of President Biden’s broader effort to deliver investments, jobs, and opportunities directly to working and middle-class families across the country,” senior White House aides Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon said Monday in a memo.
Mr. Biden will outline the internet plan as part of a broader push to highlight “Bidenomics,” a term the administration coined for the president’s oft-repeated drive to build the economy from the “bottom up” and the “middle out.”
Mr. Biden will head Wednesday to Chicago to outline his vision and accuse Republicans of hollowing out the middle class and sending jobs overseas.
“And in the weeks and months ahead, the president, members of his Cabinet, and senior administration officials will continue fanning out across the country to take the case for Bidenomics and the president’s Investing in America agenda directly to the American people, and to call out those who want to drag our country backward by returning to the failed trickle-down policies of the past,” the White House memo said.
Mr. Biden is making his economic pitch as he runs for a second term. He is facing headwinds such as low approval ratings and persistent, though softening, inflation.
Republicans say his big spending plans fuel inflation and voters will want a different direction in 2024.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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