ST. PAUL — It’s been just over a year since Minnesota discovered its first case of the novel coronavirus within state boundaries, and life has taken on a new shape since. Much of it, from work to recreation to family time, has migrated online.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., doesn’t think life and Americans’ dependency on the internet is going to return to our pre-pandemic baseline, even as cases subside. In an interview with Forum News Service on Thursday, March 11, she said the pandemic has “put an exclamation point” on an already existing need for widespread investment in broadband infrastructure.
Alongside House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, she is proposing a $94 billion investment in expanding broadband infrastructure throughout underserved communities in the country in order to “close the internet divide.”
“It’s not just nice to be able to email your grandma or watch a movie,” Klobuchar said. “We have seen for kids that are learning (virtually during the pandemic), 10 to 15% of them, depending on the school district, like so many in rural Minnesota, weren’t even able to see their teacher on Zoom. They were forced to use pencil and paper and tune into an entire day of class on the telephone.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey , less than 85% of Minnesota households have broadband subscriptions. For rural communities, connection often gets spottier, which Klobuchar said isn’t sustainable going into the future.
ADVERTISEMENT
“If you’re going to have a thriving economy in rural Minnesota or rural North Dakota, you are not going to be able to do it unless you have high speed internet,” she said. “And everyone should have that same access regardless of their county or their zip code.”
The bulk of Klobuchar’s bill package — $80 billion — would go toward building up broadband infrastructure in areas around the country which are not currently connected. Additional funds in the package would go toward different loan and grant programs.
Another $6 billion from the bill package would go toward a fund to help subsidize internet bills for needy families. Even if the connection lines are there, Klobuchar said, people need to be able to afford the internet bill to get online.
If there’s a “silver lining” to the pandemic, Klobuchar said one is that a number of Americans have reportedly opted out of city living and opted to move to lower-population areas, or perhaps their hometowns. With rural populations trending down over the years and their economies struggling, Klobuchar said a population influx could kick-start rural America again — but only if they’re connected.
“You want to harness that. You want people living in rural areas,” she said. “But you can't do that without broadband.”
While the word infrastructure often evokes thoughts of roads and bridges, Klobuchar said infrastructure investments need to go further in the 21st Century in order for communities and America, as a whole, to remain competitive globally.
“In the modern era, infrastructure is about getting from one palace to another, right? It’s about airports and roads and bridges and rail and locks and dams,” she said. “But it’s also about getting communications from one one place to another. That includes the electricity grid and it includes broadband.”
